Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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VOICE-CONTROLLED COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM AND METHOD HAVING AN
ACCESS DEVICE OR BADGE APPLICATION
Related Application/Priority Claims
This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application Serial Nos.
11/710,323 and 11/710,454
(both issued as US Patent Nos. 8,121,649 and 7,953,447, respectively) which in
turn claim priority under
35 U.S.C. 120 and is a continuation in part of U.S. Patent Application Serial
No. 11/580,409, filed on
October 13, 2006 (now US Patent No. 7,257,415) which in turn claims priority
under 35 U.S.C. 120 to and is
a continuation of U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 10/735,218 filed on
December 12, 2003 (now US Patent
No. 7,248,881) which in turn claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 120 to and is a
divisional application of
US Patent Application Serial No. 10/231,720 filed on August 30, 2002 (now US
Patent No. 6,892,083) which
claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 120 and is a continuation in part (C1P) of
U.S. Patent Application Serial
Number 09/947,235 filed on September 5, 2001 (now US Patent No. 6,901,255).
Appendices
Attached hereto are: 1) Appendix A (15 pages) containing the user profile
database
record; and 2) Appendix B (10 pages) containing the system information
database record. These
appendices form part of this specification.
Background
A system and method for providing voice-controlled communications between
individuals is provided.
Various different wireless communication devices are well known and form a
large part
of our everyday lives. Examples of the well known wireless communication
devices include
cellular phones from various manufacturers, wireless e-mail systems, such as
the Research in
Motion (RIM) wireless e-mail devices that include personal information
management features
and capabilities, pagers and other wireless access devices, such as Palm-type
handheld devices
that permit e-mail or Internet access.
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These well known wireless communication devices provide an expanding
range of capabilities. For example, when originally introduced, cellular
phones provided only
wireless telephone access and the clarity of the cellular phone calls was not
clear. Recently,
the next generation of cellular phones were introduced (2 G handsets) that
provided limited
Internet access so that, for example, a user may browse the World Wide Web as
one might do
with a typical desktop computer. The level of access, however, was very
limited and
unsatisfactory. These cellular phones typically provided some browsing
capability, but
nothing else due to various limitations including small display screen size
and limited
bandwidth connections. Recently, the next generation of cellular phones (2.5 G
and 3 G
handsets) are being introduced which provide greater bandwidth connections
that will enable
the cell phones to provide closer to the same level of functionality as is
provided by a desktop
computer.
Thus, these devices permit the integration of telephony functions with the
functions of a web browser. The cellular phones still do not have reliable
communications
since the footprint of the cells for the cellular phones is still being
expanded to provide better
coverage. None of these typical systems provide a voice-controlled
communications system.
Some known cellular phones provide some limited voice-recognition capability,
such as to
dial a phone number based on a name of a person, but do not provide a wide
breadth of voice-
activated functions. Thus, it is desirable to provide a voice-activated
communications system
and desirable to provide a voice-controlled wireless communications system
that overcomes
the limitations and drawbacks of typical cell phone systems and it is to this
end that the
present invention is directed.
Summary of the Invention
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a voice controlled
communications system, comprising: a control computer; an access device having
a speaker, a
microphone and a processing unit that operates as an access device to the
control computer
wherein the access communicates with the control computer; the control
computer having an
authentication unit and a user profile database having, for each user, a user
profile
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having a plurality of pieces of information associated with each user wherein
the user profile
is associated with the access device when the access device is authenticated
by the
authentication unit; and wherein the control computer further comprises a
voice recognition
system that receives voice commands from a user using the microphone when the
user profile
is associated with the access device and wherein the access device is assigned
to a particular
user when the user first issues any command using the access device to the
voice recognition
system.
There is also provided a voice controlled communications system, comprising:
a control computer; an access device having a speaker, a microphone and a
processing unit
that executes a badge application and operates as an access device to the
control computer
when the access device communicates with the control computer; the control
computer having
an authentication unit and a user profile database having, for each user, a
user profile having a
plurality of pieces of information associated with each user wherein the user
profile is
associated with the access device when the access device is authenticated by
the
authentication unit; wherein the access device with the badge application
further comprises an
unassigned state and an assigned state such that the badge application is
initially in the
unassigned state when it has not been assigned to a user, the badge
application enters the
assigned state when the badge application has been assigned to a user and the
badge
application returns to the unassigned state when the user has finished using
the badge
application so that the badge application is dynamically bound to the user
while the user is
using the badge application; and wherein the control computer further
comprises a voice
recognition system that receives voice commands from a user using the
microphone and
badge application and wherein the badge application is assigned to a
particular user when the
user first issues any command from the badge application to the voice
recognition system.
A voice-controlled communications system and method are provided. The
system may comprise a user device, one or more concentrators with which each
user device
communicates, and a control computer that controls the communications wherein
the control
computer and the one or more concentrators are connected together by a typical
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computer/communications network, such as a local area network (LAN), a wide
area network
(WAN) or another similar network. Each user device may be a lightweight badge
device that
does not have a keyboard, an access device that has a processing unit, memory
and
connectivity or a computing device that
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executed a badge application to implement the functions and operations of the
badge that each
provide a user with access to the voice-controlled system. The network between
the user devices
and the one or more concentrators may be an 802.11(b) or (g) wireless network,
a 2G, 2.5G or
3G cellular network, a digital data network or any other type of wireless
network. Each
concentrator of the system may be a network switch (for wired phone), an
802.11(b) or (g)
access point, a cellular base station, a mobile base station or the like. In
one embodiment, each
user device is the badge device, an access device or computing device with a
badge application
where the user device is a battery powered transceiver that is capable of
communicating with an
adjacent concentrator in order to perform various different desirable
functions, including calling
another user, calling an outside person, receiving a call from a user or third
party, determining the
location of a user of the system, configuring the communications system and
many others that are
described in more detail below. Each user device has very limited computing
power so that the
bulk of the processing to execute the one or more commands of the user are
implemented by the
control computer, that may be a server computer, and the badge operates as an
access device that
permits the user to access the functions and capabilities of the control
computer as described
below. Each concentrator has some limited communications range and can handle
some
predetermined number of active badges (an active badge is a badge or access
device or
computing device with a badge application that is currently actively engaged
in a communication
with the server or a third party). Thus, for a predetermined area, such as a
office building or
office complex, there may be a plurality of concentrators that are spaced
apart from each other so
that all locations in the entire building/complex are within range of at least
one concentrator. To
permit handoff between the different concentrators, the coverage of each
concentrator may
overlap the coverage of another concentrator so that the communications
session of a badge,
access device or computing device with the badge application that is moving
between coverage
of different concentrator is not dropped. Since the badges, access devices or
computing devices
with badge applications do not have sufficient computer power to perform
various functions, the
control computer performs those functions, such as voice recognition and
executing the various
desirable functions of the communications system.
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Now, to briefly explain the operation of the system, an example of the
execution of one
command will be described. For example, to place a call to a third party or
another user of the
communications system, the user may activate his user device (that may be a
badge, access
device or computing device with a badge application) and may receive a prompt
indicating that
the control computer is ready to handle the user's requests. The user may then
say a voice
command, such as "Call Rob Shostak", into the user device that records the
voice command in
digital form and communicates the digital data corresponding to the voice
command to the
control computer through the concentrator. The control computer may then
interpret the voice
command. Once the voice command is interpreted, the control computer may
execute the
appropriate function in order to set up a call between the user device user
and Rob. For example,
the control computer may look up Rob in it's user database to determine if Rob
is a user of the
system and has a user device currently assigned to Rob. If Rob is a user, then
the server will
attempt to locate Rob and then set up a user device to user device call. When
the call is
established, audio is directed from the user device user, to the neighboring
concentrator, then the
network to the concentrator to which Rob's user device is currently
associated, through to Rob's
user device. The two concentrators may actually be the same, in which case the
middle "leg"
through the network backbone is obviated. If Rob is not a user of the system,
then the control
computer will establish a communications session with Rob using Rob's
telephone number and
then hand over the communications session to the user device. When the call is
established
between the badge user and Rob (when Rob is a not a user of the system), the
communications
path is between the badge, through the concentrator, the control computer, and
the PBX, to Rob.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Figure 1 illustrates an example of an embodiment of the voice-controlled
communications system;
Figures 2a - 2g illustrate a first embodiment of the communications badge for
use with
the communication system shown in Figure 1;
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Figure 3a - 3h illustrate a second embodiment of the communications badge for
use with
the communication system shown in Figure 1;
Figure 3i is a block diagram illustrating the hardware components of the
communications
badge for use with the communication system shown in Figure 1;
Figures 3j ¨ 3y illustrate two other embodiments of the communications badge
for use
with the communication system shown in Figure 1;
Figure 3Z illustrates a access device having a badge application for use with
the
communications system;
Figure 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary concentrator for use with the
communication
system shown in Figure 1
Figure 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary server for use with the
communication
system shown in Figure 1;
Figure 6 illustrates more details of the server shown in Figure 5;
Figure 6A illustrates an example of the user database for use with the
communication
system shown in Figure 1
Figure 7 illustrates an example of a user/administrator console for use with
the
communication system shown in Figure 1
Figure 8A illustrates the badge assignment methods for use with the
communication
system shown in Figure 1
Figure 8B is a state diagram illustrating the operating states of a
communications badge;
Figure 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method for performing a badge to badge
communications session;
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Figure 10 is a state diagram illustrating an example of the call states of the
communications system;
Figure 11 illustrates an example of a menu organization for the badge; and
Figure 12 illustrates an example of a menu state table showing the transitions
between the
various menus states.
Detailed Description of the Exemplary Embodiments
The invention is particularly applicable to a voice-controlled communications
system that
uses a network, such as a cellular network, another wireless network or an
802.11(b) or (g)
network as a communications protocol network and a Ethernet
communications/computer
network and it is in this context that the system will be described. It will
be appreciated,
however, that the voice-controlled communications system in accordance with
the invention has
greater utility since it can be implemented using various different
communication protocols and
various different computer networks and various communication networks. Now,
an
embodiment of the communication system implemented with an 802.11(b) or (g)
network, one
or more 802.11(b) or (g) access points and one or more badge devices (See
Figures 2 and 3) is
described.
Figure 1 illustrates an example of an embodiment of the voice-controlled
wireless
communications system 30 in accordance with the invention. In particular, the
system comprises
a plurality of wireless user badges (B1 - B6 in this example) 32, one or more
concentrators 34,
such as wireless access points (AP), and one or more central computers (VS)
36, such as a server
computer, as shown. In this figure, a local area network wireless
communications system is
shown that permits communication between badges in the same building wherein
the
concentrators 34 and the server 36 are connected to each other and communicate
with each other
over a communications/computer network 38 which may be a local area Ethernet
network. The
voice-controlled wireless communications system, however, is not limited to
being implemented
using a LAN since it may also be implemented using any other type of computer
network. For
example, for a large company with multiple buildings, a company wide voice-
controlled wireless
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communications system may be provided wherein the building may be
interconnected using a
wide area network (WAN), there may be a central computer 36 located at each
building which
communicates with other central computers over the WAN, and each building may
have a LAN
with a central computer 36, one or more concentrators 34 and a plurality of
badges 32. In an
exemplary embodiment, the computer network may be an Ethernet based network,
the central
computer 36 may be a typical server computer with additional features
described below, each
concentrator 34 may be a wireless concentrator that uses a particular wireless
protocol, such as
Bluetooth or the IEEE 802.11(b) or (g) standard and the wireless badges 32 are
capable of
communicating with the concentrators using the particular protocol. Thus, if
the concentrators
are implemented using the Bluetooth protocol, then the badges will have
Bluetooth transceivers
or if the concentrators are implemented using the IEEE 802.11(b) or (g)
standard, then the
badges will have 802.11 (b) or (g) compliant transceivers.
Returning to the system shown in Figure 1, a voice-controlled wireless
communications
system is shown that has a primary central computer 36 and a backup central
computer (shown in
phantom) that are both connected to the computer network 38. Each central
computer 36 may
also be connected to a telephone system 39, such as the public branch exchange
system (PBX)
and voicemail (VM) system shown, that permits the server to set up, manage and
take down
communications sessions between a user of the system that has a badge and a
third party. Each
concentrator 34 is also connected to the computer network 38 and communicates
with the central
computers 36 over the computer network. The concentrators 34 each have a
limited range of
operation/coverage 40, known as a network neighborhood, as shown. To permit
handoff
between concentrators as a person with a badge moves between different network
neighborhoods, the network neighborhoods may preferably overlap to permit
handoff without
dropping a communications session. The concentrators may communicate with each
badge 32
using a wireless protocol, such as Bluetooth or the IEEE 802.11(b) or (g)
standard, a cellular
protocol such as GSM, GPRS, EDGE, etc., or other data protocols. In general,
each concentrator
is capable of handling some maximum number of active badges (e.g., badges that
are actively
communicating with the central computer or actively engaged in a call with
someone) so that
more than one concentrator may be needed in a particular high density area
with multiple badges.
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Each badge, access device or computing device with a badge application 32 is a
small, voice-
controlled, wireless device that is capable of communicating with an
concentrator. Each badge is
preferably powered by a rechargeable battery. In general, each badge is an
access device to the
voice-controlled wireless communications system, but does not perform much of
the actual
processing (other than audio processing which may include voice compression
and echo
cancellation) since the processing power of each badge is relatively small.
Thus, each badge will
communicate with the central computer 36 through an adjacent concentrator in
order to
implement the desired wireless communication functions that are described in
more detail below.
In operation, a user that wants to initiate a wireless communications function
may
activate his/her badge in some manner. The activation causes an adjacent
concentrator (where
the badge is within the network neighborhood of the concentrator) to establish
a communications
session with the particular badge. The user is notified that activation is
complete and then speaks
his command which is received by the badge using its microphone and converted
into digital
data. The badge may then communicate the digital command data to the
concentrator which in
turn sends the digital command data to the central computer 36 over the
computer network. The
server may then analyze the digital command data in order to determine the
command issued by
the user, such as "Where is Paul Barsley". If the central computer is able to
properly identify the
command, then it will execute the appropriate instructions to perform the
commanded operation.
If the central computer cannot properly interpret the command, it may request
the user to try the
command again. In this manner, the user is able, using only his voice, to
perform various
wireless communication functions wherein the central computer implements most
of the
functions. Now, a first embodiment of the badge 32 will be described in more
detail.
Figures 2a - 2g illustrate a first embodiment of the communications badge 32,
Figure 3a -
3h illustrate a second embodiment of the communications badge, Figure 3i is a
block diagram
illustrating the hardware components of the communications badge and Figure 3Z
illustrates a
third embodiment of the badge wherein an access device executes a software
badge application.
Before describing the details of the badge or the different embodiments, a
general overview of
the badge and its operation will be provided. The badge of the first two
embodiments is a
portable, battery-powered, lightweight, wireless device that serves as the
primary
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communications endpoints of the system. The badges support hands-free, near
full duplex voice
communications using a small microphone (situated near the top of the badge as
described
below) and a speaker (located near the bottom of the badge as described below)
or the
microphone and speaker of the access device. In addition to the wireless
communications, each
badge is preferably capable of receiving text pages (using a pager receiver as
described below) or
from an e-mail client in the server 36 or from a browser application hosted on
the server 36 and
may include a display unit (as described below) to, among other things, permit
reading of the text
pages.
Each badge is only capable of voice communications when it is within the
network
neighborhood of any concentrator. The typical range of a wireless access point
is approximately
35 meters for an indoor access point and approximately 100 meters for an
outdoor access point.
Thus, when the badge is not within the range of any concentrator, voice
commands do not work.
However, the badge may still be used as a one-way text pager anywhere within
the coverage area
of a global pager service network. When the badge is a cell-type access
device, the coverage is
by a plurality of cellular base stations with each cellular base station
having a cell coverage area
of, for example, about 5 miles.
When the access device is a wired phone, the communication system does not
necessarily
include a concentrator, but the phone is able to connect to the control
computer over a network,
such as a PSTN, PBX or IP nework (for an IP wired phone), so that the wired
phone becomes an
access device to the communication system. In this example, a microphone and a
speaker of the
wired phone is used to interact with the voice recognition system of the
communication system.
The badges of the first two embodiments are sufficiently small and lightweight
enough so
that the badge may be clipped onto a shirt pocket of the user, may be worn on
a lanyard around
the neck of a user or carried is a holster similar to cellular phone. In a
typical environment with
typical noise levels, hands-free operation using voice commands requires the
badge to be situated
approximately 0.5 meters from the mouth of the user so that the voice commands
may be
understood by the central computer. Thus, if the badge is carried in a
holster, it may need to be
removed from the holster and brought closer to the user's mouth for voice
command, hands-free
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operation. For a semi-private conversation or operation in a loud environment
with high noise
levels, the badge may be inverted (so that the speaker is near the user's ear
and the microphone is
near the user's mouth) similar to a typical telephone. Optionally, a headphone
jack may be
provided on the badge. The badge may also include a clip (as described below)
that may be used
to clip the badge onto a shirt or shirt pocket or may be used to hold a
corporate security badge.
The badges may be powered by a renewable energy source, such as a replaceable,
rechargeable lithium polymer or lithium ion battery, that attaches to the back
of the badge. The
battery may be needed to be recharged each day for voice operation, but it may
last longer if the
badge is used for only text functions. The invention, however, is not limited
to any particular
energy source and any renewable or non-renewable energy source may be used.
The badge may
include a charging adapter as an accessory for recharging the renewable energy
source and the
charging adapter may be a docking station or simply a wall transformer.
Returning to Figure 3i, a block diagram of the first and second embodiments of
the badge
32 is shown. Each badge may include a wireless transceiver 50 and an antennae
52 (that may be
a 100 mw Bluetooth radio transceiver, an appropriate strength IEEE 802.11(b)
or (g) transceiver
or any other wireless transceiver) that is used for wireless communications
with the concentrators
34 or with other badges as described below. In one embodiment, each badge
contains an 802.11
(b) or (g) transceiver capable of transmitting at approximately 20 dBm (100
mW), and receiving
with a sensitivity of approximately ¨85dBm. The badges also contain a DSP
engine and voice
codec for speech processing and control, a display control processor and LCD
display, a lithium
battery with protection circuitry, an audio amplifier, microphone, and
speaker. Each badge is
factory-assigned a unique physical (MAC) address. Each badge may further
include a pager
receiver 54 and an internal antennae 56 (such as a Motorola FLEX pager
receiver and antennae)
that operates to receive text messages/pages within the coverage of any global
paging service
network. The antennae for the wireless transceiver, in one embodiment, may be
built into the
clip of the badge or may reside completely within the badge. Each badge is
assigned a unique
wireless device address (so that it can be identified by each concentrator and
the central
computer) as well as a unique pager address, such as a FLEX pager CAP code.
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Each badge may further include a central processing unit (CPU) 58 that
controls the
operation of the badge and each of its components including the wireless
transceiver 50 and the
pager receiver 54 as shown. For example, the CPU may also control a microphone
60 and a
speaker 62 that are components of the badge and permit the user of the badge
to communicate
with the central computer 36 using voice commands and receive voice responses
from the central
computer 36. The badge may further include a well known non-volatile memory
chip (not
shown) so that data stored in the badge (such as settings and messages) are
not lost when the
badge is powered down. For example, the non-volatile memory device may be a
well known
flash memory device. The microphone and speaker may also be used for voice
communications
with other badge users or third parties. The badge may further include an
amplifier 64 that
amplifies the signals provided to/from the microphone and speaker.
The badge 32 may also include a display device 66, such as a liquid crystal
display
(LCD), that may be used for various purposes, such as reviewing text messages
and pages
received by the pager receiver, to permit the user to control the operation of
the badge and its
configuration using a control menu or to announce the origin of an incoming
call. In one
embodiment, the display device 66 may be a monochrome dot-matrix display with
approximately
32 rows and 60 columns. The display has sufficient resolution to permit four
lines of
approximately fourteen characters per line. In the preferred embodiment, the
display device 66
may be situated on the back of the badge (as shown in Figure 3c) to protect it
from damage and
so that it is not normally visible without flipping over the badge or removing
it from its holster.
As described above, the badge may include a renewable energy source 68, such
as a removable,
rechargeable batter as shown, that may include protection and charge
management circuitry as is
well known to prevent over-charging. The badge may further comprise a digital
signal processor
(DSP) 70 and an audio codec 72 for processing incoming speech from the
microphone and for
generating the voice signals generated by the speaker. For example, the DSP
and audio codec are
capable of compressing the digital voice data to reduce the amount of digital
data used to
communicate the voice commands to the server. The compression is performed by
a
commercially available compression software sold by VoiceAge.
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The badge 32 may further include an input device 74 that permits the user to
control the
operation of the badge and its configuration. In one embodiment, the input
device may be a jog
switch which is a spring-loaded compound-action switch that supports three
momentary actions.
In particular, the switch may be pressed inwards as an ordinary push button.
The switch may
also be rotated in either direction. The function of these actions depends on
the context. For
example, if a call is in progress, the up and down movements may control
volume. When a call
is not in progress, these movements may control menu and message scrolling in
the display.
Certain input operations may require that the switch is pushed in for more
than some
predetermined amount of time. In the following descriptions, it will be
convenient to speak of
the jog control as if it were three separate buttons for clarity. Therefore,
the inward push control
will be called the activate button; the other two controls will be referred to
as the scroll up and
scroll down buttons. Many jog operations are carried out by pressing and
releasing almost
immediately; we will say "press the activate button", for example, to mean
press and quickly
release. A few operations require holding for some predetermined period of
time, such as at least
half a second, before releasing. We will say "press and hold" in this case.
Thus, the user
interacts with the system through a combination of the jog switch and voice
controls. In one
embodiment, the input device 74 may be a touch button located in particular
location, such as on
the front of the badge, that may be pushed or touched to activate the same
functions and
operations being activated by the jog switch.
The badge may also include an on/off switch 76 and a status indicator 78. In
one
embodiment, the status indicator may include an LED that is capable of
displaying one or more
different colors to signal the operational status of the badge. For example, a
slowly blinking
green light indicates that the badge is within the network neighborhood and is
operational while a
slowly blinking read light indicates that the badge is not within a network
neighborhood. The
badge may further optionally include a headset jack 80 that enables the user
to plug in an external
microphone/speaker headset, such as an ear bud. When the external headset is
plugged into the
jack 80, the operation of the internal microphone and speaker is inhibited.
The wireless system must know which badge each user is wearing so that calls
to the user
can be properly routed. Badge assignment is the process of associating a badge
with a particular
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user. The assignment may occur when a badge is first activated. At that time,
the system
prompts the user to identify himself verbally. Depending on the installation,
it may also be
necessary for the user to say a password provided to him by the administrator,
or a voice
signature that is matched against a pre-recorded entry in the database of the
server 36. Assuming
the user is known to the system, the system will recognize the name, and will
then (after a
confirmation) assign the badge to the user. When the badge has been
dynamically assigned to the
user, the user's profile stored on the server 36 will be associated with the
particular badge so that,
for example, the user's preferences are active or the alternate names of the
user are known. Once
assigned, the serial number of the badge will show up on the user's console
(as described in more
detail below), and the badge can display a welcome greeting, when turned on,
that is personalized
to the user (e.g., "Hello, John"). The server 36 may also store text messages
that may be
downloaded to the badge at this time. A given badge can be assigned to at most
one user at a
time, and each user can be assigned only one badge at a time. A badge can
later be reassigned to
another user, if desired, via a voice command. Alternatively, the system
administrator can
explicitly set the serial number of the badge to be assigned to a user through
the user console. A
badge is not tightly bound to a single user as would be the case with a
typical cellular phone,
wireless e-mail device or other devices since the badge is dynamically bound
to the user when
the user uses the badge. As an example, when a badge is not being used by any
particular user, it
is not assigned to any user and is available for use by any user. When the
user is assigned to a
badge, the user profile on the server is associated with the badge. However,
the user profile is
not stored on the badge since the badge is merely a device used to access the
system. As an
example, a company may have 50 badges which are available for use. In
accordance with the
invention, when a user needs a badge, such as at the start of a workday, the
user is assigned a
badge (as described below) and uses the badge. At the end of the day, the user
returns the badge
to the charger station and the badge returns to an unassigned state in which
any user may pick up
and be assigned to the badge.
The bearer of the badge must typically first be registered with the system (or
be registered
by the administrator) before the badge can be assigned to him. In cases where
visitors may be
provided with a badge to be used temporarily, it may be useful for the
administrator to register a
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few "Guest" users (the registration process only takes a moment) and assign
guest badges to
them. If desired, the spoken name of the guest can be entered through the user
console, so that
other users can hail him by name as opposed to, say, "Guest Three". As noted
above, the
assignment process entails that the user speak his own name so that he may be
recognized by the
system. The name will be recorded by the system and used for constructing a
confirmation
prompt when other parties call ("Finding ... John Smith"). If the spoken name
of the user is later
changed in the User Console, the user will be prompted to re-speak the name
the next time his
badge is successfully activated. The user is similarly prompted to speak the
identifying phrase
("John Smith in Sales") if one is provided.
When the access device is used to access the system, the control computer 36
may also
include an authentication unit that authenticates a user's access to the
system when the access
device is used to access the system. The authentication unit may authenticate
the user in
different ways. For example, the authentication unit may capture the caller ID
information when
the access device dials into the system and then authenticate the user (and
the access device) with
the system. Alternatively, the user using the access device (once the access
device is connected
to the system) may enter/speak a PIN or login password, as described above, so
that the user (and
the particular access device being used) is authenticated by the system and
the user can access the
voice commands and capabilities of the system.
Returning to Figures 2a - 2g and 3a - 3h, two different embodiments of the
badge 32 in
accordance with the invention are shown. In the embodiment shown in Figures 2a
- 2g, the
badge does not include a display device whereas the embodiment shown in
Figures 3a - 3h
includes the display device 66. Both of the embodiments of the badge include a
clip 82, a
microphone opening 84 and a speaker opening 86. Each embodiment also includes
the input
device 74, the on/off switch 76, the status indicator 78 and the headset jack
80 as shown. In the
two embodiments shown, the status indicators 78 may be a series of LED lights.
As shown in
these two embodiments, the exact location of the various components on the
badge may be
varied,
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Figures 3j ¨ 3y illustrate two other embodiments of the communications badge
32 in
accordance with the invention. These embodiments of the badge have the same
elements as the
prior embodiments so those elements will not be described. The embodiment
shown in Figures
3j ¨ 3q has the clip 82 as shown while the embodiment shown in Figures 3r ¨ 3y
does not have
the clip. Both of these embodiments do not include the jog switch, but have a
different device.
In the embodiments shown, the display 66 may be a monochrome dot matrix with a
grid size of
32 rows by 60 columns. The grid is sufficient to display up to four lines of
approximately 14 text
characters per line in a 5-point font. The display is situated at the back of
the badge, and so is
normally not viewable without some manipulation from its normal position. The
display is used
to indicate badge status (such as battery charge, on-off network status, and
signal strength), to
peruse text messages, to announce the origin of incoming calls, and for
various control menu
functions. In addition to the elements of the other badges, these badges
include a activate button
87 and a do not disturb/hold button 88.
The activate button 87 is the primary control with which the user interacts
with the badge
and is a momentary push button on the front of the badge as shown. This button
is used to
initiate a dialog with the system agent (the "Genie"), as well as for various
call control functions.
The activate button supports two momentary actions; it may either be pressed
and immediately
released (a press), or pressed and held down ( a press-and-hold) for longer
than a brief moment.
The length of a "brief moment" will need to be determined through experiment,
but is likely to
be approximately 600 milliseconds. While the functions of press and press-and-
hold depend on
the context, the general rule is that a press is used for an affirmative
action (such as initiating or
accepting a call). The press-and-hold is used to power down the badge.
The do not disturb/hold button 88 is a second momentary push button that is
provided at
the top of the unit as shown to allow the user to place the badge in a do-not-
disturb (DND) mode
(if no call is currently in progress), or to put a call on hold (if one is in
progress). The button
acts as a simple toggle. This button is backlighted by a single-color LED that
is normally
inactive, but turns on when in DND or Hold mode. It may be useful to
distinguish between the
two modes by having the LED blink while in DND mode, and continuously
illuminated while a
call is on hold, for example.
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The input device 74 in these embodiments is a group of three small momentary
push
buttons is situated along one edge of the badge to facilitate volume
adjustment during calls, and
manipulation of the display menus when no call is in progress. The top and
bottom buttons of
the group increase and decrease call loudness, respectively, when a call is in
progress. When the
badge is inactive, they act as scroll controls for manipulating menus and text
on the display. The
middle button is used to make menu selections in this context.
The status indicator 78 in these embodiments is an LED display which is
capable of
displaying two colors is used to signal operational status. For example, a
fast blinking green
indicates that a message is waiting. Other blinking patterns (such as blinking
red) may be used to
indicate other conditions, such as hand-off in progress or low battery. The
headset jack 80 is
provided to enable one to plug in an external microphone / earphone
combination. Use of the
jack inhibits the operation of the built-in microphone and/or speaker.
In an alternative embodiment, an access device may be used with the voice-
controlled
system. The access device may be a processing unit based device having a
microphone and
speaker (not shown) that may be a phone, a cellular phone, a mobile phone, a
Smart phone, a
Blackberry-type device with a built-in communications capability, a Palm
operating system based
device with a communications capability, a Windows CE-based device with a
communications
capability or any other device that has a speaker, a microphone and sufficient
processing power,
memory and connectivity to be an access device for the voice-controlled
system. The access
device may also have the typical elements of these access devices such as a
display device, a
processing unit, a communications unit, a memory and the like. The access
device may also
include a power source (not shown) and may include the other elements of the
badge described
above that are not shown or described herein.
Figure 3Z illustrates an access device having a badge application for use with
the
communications system. The combination of the access device with the badge
application
operates as the badge 32 described above. The access device may be a
processing unit based
device having a microphone and speaker (not shown) that may be a phone, a
cellular phone, a
mobile phone, a Smart phone, a Blackberry-type device with a built-in
communications
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capability, a Palm operating system based device with a communications
capability, a Windows
CE-based device with a communications capability or any other device that has
a speaker, a
microphone and sufficient processing power, memory and connectivity to execute
the badge
application. The access device may also have the display device 66 that may be
used to display a
series of user interface screens of the badge application along with the soft
buttons of the badge
application and the processing unit 58 that executes the badge application.
The access device
may also include the wireless transceiver 50 described above and a memory 59,
such as
dynamic RAM, static RAM, flash memory, etc., that stores one or more pieces of
software/modules executed by the processing unit. For example, when the badge
application is
being used to access the voice-controlled system, the memory may store an
operating system 59a
that controls the overall operation of the access device, a transmission
application 59b to control
the communications functions of the access device and a badge application 59c
that implements
the functions and operations of the badge device described above. The access
device may also
include a power source (not shown) and may include the other elements of the
badge described
above that are not shown or described herein.
Figure 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary concentrator 34 in accordance with
the
invention. As described above, the wireless system 30 may include at least one
and typically
several concentrator units situated at various locations within the customer
premises so that the
network neighborhoods of the concentrators preferably overlap when the
concentrators are
802.11(b) or (g) access points. Each concentrator 34 is connected to the
computer network 38 as
shown in Figure 1 by a computer network interface 90. Depending on the
installation, the
concentrator may be plugged into as standard R.145 Ethernet jack (intended
typically for
workstation nodes) using the Ethernet interface as shown in Figure 4 and it
may be mounted on
the wall. Alternatively, the concentrator may be located within the area above
a drop-down tiled
ceiling. The power for the concentrator may be provided by the network cable
itself (according
to a new standard) or the concentrator may be connected to a AC source.
Each concentrator may include an external antennae 92 which may be supplied in
several
different variations, depending on the requirements of the particular
installation. For example,
the antenna may have directional gain and may be mounted outside the building
and connected to
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the concentrator via a feed-through through a window for an outside
concentrator. Alternatively,
the antennae may be mounted adjacent to the concentrator inside of a building
area. If the system
is implemented with cellular base stations, the cellular base stations have
the elements of the
typical base station.
In principle, each concentrator serves a predetermined radius. The actual
radius depends
on the type of wireless technology being used. For example, for a Bluetooth
wireless technology
or 802.11(b) or (g) wireless LAN, a radius of approximately 35 meters of
coverage indoors and
100 meters out-of-doors may be typical. For the system that uses a cellular
base station
concentrator, the cellular base station may have a coverage area of 1-20
miles. Each such area of
coverage is said to be a cell. As described above, concentrator spacing must
be such that there is
sufficient cell overlap that hand-off of badges from one concentrator to the
next can be
accommodated. The spacing of concentrators is also a function of the
anticipated conversation
density. In particular, each concentrator, when the concentrator is a
802.11(b) or (g) access
point, is typically able to manage up to seven active badges (i.e., seven
concurrent active
connections). In situations where a greater number of active connections are
likely within a
given area, cell size can be reduced (and the number of concentrators
increased).
Each 802.11(b) or (g) access point further comprises a wireless transceiver 94
connected
to the antennae that communicates with the badges. In one embodiment, the
transceiver may be a
Bluetooth transceiver while in a preferred embodiment, the transceiver may be
a radio transceiver
that implements the IEEE 802.11(b) or (g) standard. The access point may
further include a
central processing unit (CPU) 96 that controls the transceiver and the
computer network interface
90. In one embodiment, the CPU may be a 32-bit RISC processor. The access
point may further
include memory 98 (which may include both memory chip devices as well as
persistent storage
devices) that stores the instructions and software used by the CPU 96 to
control the operation of
the access point. For example, the memory may include an operating system 100,
an Ethernet-
based TCP/IP stack 102 and data 104 associated with the operation of the
access point. For
example, the access point may temporarily buffer the voice data from a badge
prior to
communicating it to the central computer over the computer network. The access
point may also
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include a control switch 106, such as an on/off switch and a status indicator
108, such as a pilot
LED.
As is well known, each 802.11(b) or (g) access point is factory-assigned a
unique
network medium access control (MAC) address and can be assigned an IP address
either through
a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) or through wireless programming
using special
wireless communication system installation tools (e.g., possibly a badge with
special firmware).
Now, the central computer (a server in the preferred embodiment) will be
described in more
detail
Figure 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary control computer 36, such as
server
computer in a preferred embodiment. The server 36 is responsible for the
overall control of the
system. The server consists of a set of Java and C++ application programs 120
running on an
Windows-based operating system 122 on Windows NT or Windows 2000 platforms,
together
with special-purpose hardware needed for telephony integration. In more
detail, the server 36
may include a central processing unit (CPU) 124 and a memory 126 that stores
software currently
being executed by the CPU such as the operating system 122 and the JAVA and
C++
applications 120 that implement the wireless communication functions of the
wireless
communications system. The server further comprises a persistent storage
device 128, such as a
hard disk drive, an optical drive, a flash memory or the like and a database
130 that stores
information associated with the wireless communications system. The database
stores user
information, including the assignment of users to badges, speech files
containing user name
prompts and voice signatures, user preferences, buddy lists, text messages and
voice messages. It
also keeps track of the whereabouts of users as they roam within the
communications network.
In large corporate installations, this component may interface to global
employee databases
maintained by the customer. The database may also reside on a computer that is
physically
separate from the main server 36 and may be replicated for fault-tolerance. A
standard
commercially-available database such as those based on SQL may be used.
The server 36 may further include a computer network interface 132, such as
the Ethernet
Interface shown, that permits the server to be connected to the computer
network and a telephone
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network interface 134 that permits the server to be integrated with a typical
telephone system that
may include, for example, a public exchange telephone system and a voicemail
system. The
server typically resides in the same location as the customer's telephone
equipment so that it can
interface to the PBX and the voicemail system. The telephony gateway component
of the server
36 could also reside in a separate computer that communicates to the server 36
through the
network.
Figure 6 illustrates more details of the control computer 36 shown in Figure
5. In
particular, the functional blocks of the software 120 and the database 130 are
shown in more
detail. The software may include a voice command interpreter 140, a call
manager 142, a
connection manager 144 and an administrator 146. The voice command interpreter
140 may be a
component that includes a speech engine, such as the commercially available
Nuance speech
engine, is built onto the speech engine and has responsibility for
interpreting and executing
voice-based commands from both badges and externally initiated calls coming in
from the public
switched telephone network (PSTN). The call manager 142 has responsibility for
the set-up and
the breakdown of two-party and multi-party calls and maintaining status
information associated
with these calls and its connection to the PSTN or PBX as is well known. The
connection
manager 144 is the component that is responsible for managing concentrators
and the
connections between badges and concentrators and among the badges. It supports
hand-off from
one concentrator to another (or one subnet to another) as a badge roams about
the network and it
informs the badges of the IP addresses of the other badges with which they are
to communicate.
The connecting manager also supports roaming across different sub-nets. In
particular, when it is
determined that a badge has crossed a sub-net boundary (since the connection
to the badge has
been lost), the badge will request a new DHCP address and then communicate
that new
information to the server 36. The server 36 may then communicate the new
address to the other
badges in the system so that, for example, a conversation may be continued
following the
roaming of the badge in the network.
The administrator/user module 146 (a browser application manager) supports
administrator-level and user-level configuration and monitoring of the system
through a web
browser interface as shown. A telephony integration component 145 may include
hardware and
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software needed for the system to interoperate with the phone network. The
hardware typically
consists of one or more Dialogic or similar cards, such as a Dialogic D/120JCT-
LS card which
has twelve analog ports, installed within the server machine, which might
interface to a Ti trunk
at the company PBX. The card is connected to the customer's telephone system
via standard
cables. The twelve ports enable twelve simultaneous connections to PBX
extensions or outside
numbers. The software will support an IVR interface that permits calls
originating from the
outside to be routed to the appropriate user.
The database 130 stores user information, including the assignment of badges
to users,
speech files containing user name prompts, messages, user preferences, buddy
lists, text message
and voice messages. It also keeps track of the whereabouts of users as they
roam within the
communications network, as well as the MAC address of each badge and the IP
address currently
assigned to each badge. Once a user has logged into the system (and has a
badge assigned to
him), the database record for that particular user may be cached into the
memory of the server
using a hash table so that the user information may be more readily accessed.
In large corporate
installations, this component may interface to global employee databases
maintained by the
customer. The server 36 may also contain a web server, such as an Apache
server, that hosts the
user/administration console.
In the alternative embodiment using the access device described above, the
voice-
controlled communications system may be implemented using an access device
with a
microphone and speaker and the like described above. In the embodiment in
which the access
device is used, each concentrator may be a wireless base station, cellular
base station or other
concentrator for a cellular or wireless network, such as a 2G, 2.5G, 3G, etc.
network, so that the
voice-controlled communication system can be operated over a typical wireless
network in which
the voice controlled communication system operates on the typical wireless
network. For
example, the system may operate over a GSM, GPRS, EDGE network as well as
other networks.
The access device with the badge application may also be used in combination
with a 802.11(b)
or (g) network when the access device has the 802.11(b) or (g) connectivity or
if the access
device incorporates an 802.11(b) or (g) network card. In this embodiment, the
buttons and
control elements of the badge device described above may be implemented as
soft buttons on the
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access device, as user interface buttons displayed on the display of the
access device or by
mapping the functions described above to the normal keys of the access device
if the access
device has a keyboard. Alternatively, the buttons of the badge may be
implemented using the
DTMF tones generated by the depression of different buttons on the access
device. As another
alternative, the buttons of the badge may be implemented by downloading one or
more WAP
pages from the control computer wherein the WAP pages are displayed on the
access device and
the user can interact with the WAP pages. As yet another alternative, a badge
application can be
downloaded to the access device when the user logs into the system and then
the system operates
as described in co-pending US patent application number 11/710,454, filed on
February 22, 2007,
(issued as US Patent No. 7,953,447) and entitled "Voice-Controlled
Communications System and
Method Using a Badge Application".
When the access device is used, the user may operate the access device to
access the
voice-controlled system (and access the Genie), such as by dialing a
particular number that may
be a speed dial number. Once the user has accessed the voice-controlled
system, the system may
identify and authenticate the user based on the caller ID information or by
having the user
enter/speak a PIN or login password to the voice-controlled system using the
Genie. Once the
user has been authenticated by the voice-controlled system, the voice-
controlled system
associates the user profile of the user to that session established by the
access device and the
access device (using the microphone and speaker) operates as an access device
of the voice-
controlled system and permits the user to utilize the various commands, such
as "Where is Steve
Blair", and capabilities of the voice-controlled system.
In another alternative embodiment shown in Figure 3Z, the voice-controlled
communications system may be implemented using an access device with a
microphone and
speaker whose processing unit executes a plurality of lines of computer code
(a badge
application) that implements the functions and operations performed by the
badge. The badge
application may also be implemented as embedded microcode embedded in the
processing unit
or DSP or may be implemented in a hardware device from which the processing
unit is able to
execute the badge application. Thus, the badge operations and actions set
forth below can be
performed by the badge device described above or by an access device with the
microphone and
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speaker that is executing the badge application. In the embodiment in which
the access device is
used, each concentrator may be a wireless base station, cellular base station
or other concentrator
for a cellular or wireless network, such as a 2G, 2.5G, 3G, etc. network, so
that the voice-
controlled communication system can be operated over a typical wireless
network in which the
voice controlled communication system operates on the typical wireless
network. For example,
the system may operate over a GSM, GPRS, EDGE network as well as other
networks. The
access device with the badge application may also be used in combination with
a 802.11(b) or
(g) network when the access device has the 802.11(b) or (g) connectivity or if
the access device
incorporates an 802.11(b) or (g) network card. In this embodiment, the buttons
and control
elements of the badge device described above may be implemented as soft
buttons on the access
device, as user interface buttons displayed on the display of the access
device or by mapping the
functions described above to the normal keys of the access device if the
access device has a
keyboard. Alternatively, the buttons of the badge application may be
implemented using the
DTMF tones generated by the depression of different buttons on the access
device. The user
database and the administration console described below can be used with
either the badge
device embodiment or the access device with the badge application embodiment.
Figure 6A illustrates an example of a portion of the user profile database
record 148 in
accordance with the invention. This example does not include every element of
the user profile
database, but is merely illustrative. A complete listing of the user profile
database is provided in
the attached appendix A. As shown in Figure 6A, the user profile database
record may comprise
a profile portion 148a, a screening portion 148b, an options portion 148c, an
address portion
148d and a forwarding portion 148e. The profile portion 148a contains various
information
about the particular user of the system as will be described below in more
detail. The screening
portion 148b contains information about how calls coming into the badge will
be handled for the
particular user. The options portion 148c contains information about various
system options and
address portion 148d may contain information about a MAC address for the badge
which is
currently assigned to the user and an IP address. The forwarding portion 148e
contains
information about how calls going to the badge for the user are forwarded when
the user is not
available.
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In more detail, the profile portion 148a comprises a login field 148f
containing login
information about the particular user, a password field 148g which contains
the password of the
particular user, a last field 148h containing the last name of the particular
user, a first field 148i
containing the first name of the particular user, an alternative spoken name
field 148j that
contains other spoken names for the particular user, an identification phrase
field 148k which
contains a phrase used to identify the particular user, an email field 1481
containing the e-mail
address of the particular user, a work phone field 148m containing the work
phone number of the
particular user, a cell phone field 148n containing the cell phone number of
the particular user, a
home phone field 148o containing the home phone number of the particular user,
a permissions
field 148p containing the permissions which the particular user has, a PIN
field 148q containing
the PIN number of the particular user and an owner field 148r containing the
owner name. The
screening portion 148b may further comprise a block all field 149a containing
a flag which
indicates that the user is currently blocking all calls to the badge, an allow
all field 149b
containing a flag indicating whether the user is currently allowing all calls
to his currently
assigned badge, a buddies field 149c containing the buddies for the particular
user and an
exceptions field 149d containing the exceptions for the block all and allow
all options.
The options portion 148c may further comprise an iOptions field 149e
containing the
options for the user, a ringtone field 149f containing the ringtone selected
by the user at the
particular time and a Genie persona field 149g containing the particular Genie
persona currently
selected by the user. The forwarding portion 148e may further comprise a none
field 149h
containing a flag that no call forwarding is currently in place, a desk phone
forward field 149i
containing a flag indicating that call may be forwarded to the user's desk
phone, a cell phone
forwarding field 149j containing a flag indicating that call may be forwarded
to the user's cell
phone, a home phone forwarding field 149k containing a flag indicating that
call may be
forwarded to the user's home phone, a voicemail field 1491 containing a flat
indicating the a call
may be forwarded to the user's voicemail, an other field 149m containing a
flag indicating that
the call may be forwarded to another destination, and a badge field 149n
containing a flag
indication that the call may be forwarded to another badge. Now, the user
console will be
described in more detail.
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Figure 7 illustrates an example of a user/administrator console in accordance
with the
invention. In particular, the user console in accordance with the invention
may be implemented
when a computer 149, such as a personal computer, is used to access the server
36 over a
computer network 150, such as the World Wide Web, that uses the typical HTTP
protocol. The
computer 149 may include a display unit 152, a chassis 154 and one or more
input/output
devices, such as a keyboard 156 and a mouse 158. In more detail, the chassis
may include a
central processing unit (CPU) 160, a memory 162 that stores software currently
being executed
by the CPU and a persistent storage device 164, such as a hard disk drive. To
implement the user
console functionality, a typical browser application 166 may be downloaded
into the memory and
executed by the CPU. The browser will permit the computer to establish a
connection over a
communications link, such as a DSL modem line or the like, to the server 36
using the HTTP
protocol. To permit the user to view the system information, the server may
generate one or
more web pages that are displayed on the display unit of the computer and the
user may interact
with the web pages to change the information of the system.
The user/administrator console is a browser-accessible web application through
which
users are registered with the system, and through which various profile
information fields,
preferences, group memberships and buddy lists can be set up. The application
is hosted, in a
preferred embodiment, using an Apache-based web server that is co-resident
with the server 36.
The application is accessible from anywhere within the customer's firewall via
a login name and
password. If desired, a customer could permit external access to the
application so that a support
person or some other agent could monitor and/or troubleshoot the system
externally. The
console also allows a user to retrieve saved text and voice messages and to
view a call activity
log.
Depending on a system administration option, new users can be allowed to self-
register
through the console, or may be registered via a batch entry process available
only to the system
administrator. In some environments (such as retail stores), the application
may not be accessible
to ordinary users at all. In such cases, the system administrator will be
responsible for
configuring all global and user-level settings. It is expected that various
vertical markets will
require both cosmetic and functional variations of the browser application.
For example, in a
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corporate setting, all users can be safely assumed to have an e-mail address
that can serve as a
login ID. In a hotel environment, on the other hand, this may not be the case.
Moreover, certain
product features, such as choices of Genie personae and sound prompts, may
need to be
customized according to the vertical. Because the requirements for the various
targeted verticals
are still undetermined, not all of the following feature descriptions are
expected to apply to every
situation. The application may be entered via a login page that invites
existing users to enter a
login name and password, and new users to register themselves with the system
(if self-
registration is enabled).
The body of the application is organized as a collection of web pages, each of
which
presents a set of related text fields, choices and interactions. The different
pages are accessed via
a columnar arrangement of menu buttons arranged at the left side of each page.
Each field or
control appearing on a page is accompanied by a brief title or comment
explaining its function.
In the case of the more subtle items, an information dot is provided that a
user can click on to see
a more detailed explanation. At the bottom of each page is a Save button that
is ordinarily grayed
out, but which becomes active when a user makes a change to the page. The
button must be
pressed to save any changes made to the page since the last save. As a safety
provision, if the
user navigates to a new page before saving, a dialog box is presented asking
him whether or not
he wishes to abandon his changes. In a preferred embodiment, the console may
include a
plurality of different user pages, including but not limited to, a basic
information page, an
announcement options page, a call screening options page, a buddy list page, a
forwarding
options page, a groups page and a miscellaneous options page.
In a preferred embodiment, the console may also include a plurality of
administrator
pages including but not limited to a systems option page, a user
administration page, a badge
status monitor page, an concentrator location page and a telephony options
page. In typical
customer environments, one (or more) of the users will be designated as system
administrator,
and will have responsibility for configuration and monitoring of the system.
Because it cannot be
assumed that the system administrator will have a technical background in
every instance, nor
have much free time to administer the system, it is a design goal that the
administration
mechanisms be as easy to understand and use as the rest of the system. System
administration is
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effected through the browser application. When a user successfully logs in
using the
"Administrator" login ID, the usual pages of the application are replaced by
special pages that
pertain exclusively to administrative functions. Beyond having access to the
administrator pages,
an administrator has the ability to put himself in the "shoes" of an arbitrary
user. To do so, he
simply logs in as the user in question, but supplies the administrator
password. The information
fields and various other settings and features that are accessible through the
console will now be
described. First, the administrator pages will be described and then the user
pages will be
described in more detail.
The system options page for the administrator contains fields and controls for
managing
system-wide preferences and policies. Below is a representative examples of
the information on
this page since the page may be augmented as more knowledge is gained about
what needs to be
included in this page. The page may include an administrator password field
which is a text field
that is initially blank at the time of installation, but should be filled in
the first time the
administrator logs in. The page may include a company name field which is text
field containing
the name of the company in which the system is installed. The page may also
include a license
key field which is a text field that gives the license key defining the number
of users to which the
customer is entitled. The page may include a self-registration option checkbox
field which, when
enabled, allows users to self-register through the browser application. If
disabled, all users must
be created by the administrator via the User Administration page detailed
below.
The system options page may further include a default user permissions area
which may
include a series of checkboxes that allow the system administrator to specify
a default set of
capabilities that are enabled for all users. The permissions that are not
checked off here can still
be accorded to particular users from the User Administration page. The
permissions include the
following:
= Location ¨ which enables the use of "Where is?" and "Locate" voice commands.
= Group Management ¨ which enables display of the Groups page in the user
browser
application, which permits creation, editing, and deletion of groups. This
permission also
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enables use of all group voice commands, including the Record Group Prompts
voice
command.
= Group Add / Remove ¨ which enables the "Add me to group" and "Remove me
from
group" voice commands.
= VIP Status ¨ which enables a user to complete a call to someone when he
would
otherwise be blocked. (In this case, the Genie first asks whether the call is
urgent.) Note
that users can give particular buddies this ability as well (see Buddy List
page in the User
Application.)
= Ability to place internal calls through the PBX.
= Ability to place external calls through the PBX.
= Dynamic Badge Assignment- which enables the Log In and Log Out commands,
which
allow users to assign a badge to themselves at the beginning of a shift; and
= System Administration Voice Commands ¨ which enables the Begin Tour, End
Tour,
Assign Location, and Record Location Prompt voice commands, allowing a user to
administrate concentrator locations (see Concentrator Locations page below).
The systems option page may also include a message sweep time area. As
described in a
later section, users of the system need not explicitly delete voice or text
messages they have
received. Instead, messages that are sufficiently old are automatically
deleted. The message
sweep time option determines how long old messages persist before they are
deleted. This
option is controlled by a drop-down box that enumerates choices of sweep
times, ranging from
several hours to several weeks. Another control is provided that defines the
time of day at which
the sweep occurs. The systems option page may also include an auto-logout
checkbox field
which, when checked, causes the system to automatically deassign (log out) and
power off a
badge when the badge is placed in a battery charger. This feature is useful in
environments in
which badges are shared among users. In such an environment, a user will
typically take a badge
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from the gang charger at the beginning of a shift, and restore it to the
charger at the end of the
shift.
The administrator application may also include the user administration page.
In many
customer settings, the process of registering new users will be the
responsibility of the system
administrator, as opposed to the individual users themselves. Even in
situations where self-
registration is supported, the administrator may need to add new users to the
system from time to
time, and to remove users whose services are "no longer required". For these
purposes, a User
Administration page is provided that allows one to see the current set of
registered users, as well
as to add or remove users easily. This page also gives the administrator the
ability to define
permissions allowing particular users to engage in restricted activities. In
an environment
supporting telephony integration, for example, only certain users may be
permitted to place
outside calls.
The primary control on the page is a table listing the full name of each
registered user.
Clicking on a particular user in the table causes detail fields and controls
for that user to be
displayed on the page. These include the user's log in name, as well as all
the permission
checkboxes listed for the System Options page. Buttons are also provided for
deleting the
currently selected user, and for adding new user(s). This latter button brings
up a cleared dialog
box that displays the Basic Information fields. Pressing a Save button after
filling out the dialog
causes the newly-defined user to be added, and the dialog to be cleared to
permit the entry of
another user. Pressing a Cancel button in the dialog terminates the
interaction, and dismisses the
dialog.
The administrator application may also include the badge status monitor page
which
gives a real-time picture of the status of all badges that are currently
within the network
neighborhood. The display is in the form of a table with a row for each badge.
The columns of
the display provide the following information:
= Full name of the user to which the badge is currently assigned (if any)
= LP address
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Note that IP addresses are assigned dynamically through the customer's DHCP
server.
Because the wireless LAN may encompass more than one subnet, the IP address of
any given
user can change as he roams about the premises.
= Location
The user's location is actually the name of the concentrator with which the
badge is
currently associated. Concentrator names are assigned on the Concentrator
Location Page
described in the next section.
= Call Status
This field shows whether and with whom (including the Genie) the badge is
currently
conversing.
= DND / Hold Status
= Miscellaneous
For testing/debugging purposes, it may be convenient to display other status
information
such as battery condition, signal strength, BER, and other hardware-related
parameters. The page
may also show aggregate statistical data that may be useful, such as the total
number of active
users, system up-time, average length of call, and so on. It may also keep
track of metrics needed
to monitor speech recognition engine usage for licensing purposes.
The administrator pages may include the concentrator locations page. The
system
provides a number of voice commands that allow users to be located within the
network
neighborhood. These commands depend on the definition of locations within the
network.
Locations may be chosen to designate buildings ("Building C") floors within
buildings ("First
Floor, Building C") or functional areas ("cardiology", "the cafeteria"). Each
location is defined
by one or more concentrators. Each concentrator, on the other hand, can be
associated with at
most one location.
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In defining locations, one must bear in mind that radio propagation is a
mercurial
phenomenon, and that there is no guarantee that a badge will associate with
the concentrator that
is physically closest. Indeed, it is quite possible (though not very likely)
for a badge to associate
with an concentrator situated on a different floor. For this reason, location
of users is an
approximate business, which suggests that a courser location grid may be more
useful than a
finer one. In a campus environment, it may be sufficient simply to use
building names. Doing so
makes the location naming scheme easy to understand, and makes the location
commands quite
reliable. The Concentrator Location page allows the administrator to define
the set of locations,
and to assign concentrators to each location.
The principle control on the page is a Locations list box enumerating the
names of the
various locations. Buttons are included to add a new location to the list, or
to delete the
currently-selected location. Selecting a particular location populates detail
fields giving the
following information:
= Name Field
This text field gives the location name (such as First Floor) that appears in
the Locations
list box.
= Spoken Name Field
This text field permits a phonetic pronunciation to be entered for the
location. If none is
provided, the value of the name field is used.
= Description Field
This text field allows a more complete description of the location or comments
to be
entered.
In addition to the location list box, the page sports two detail tables. One
of these
(entitled Concentrators) lists the MAC addresses of the concentrators assigned
to the currently-
selected location. Buttons are provided to add or remove an concentrator from
the table. The
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second detail table, labeled Neighbors, lists locations that are adjacent to
the currently-selected
location. For example, the Cafeteria may be listed as a neighbor of Intensive
Care. Defining
neighbors allows the Locate voice command (described below) to be more useful,
especially
given the uncertainty of concentrator association noted earlier. Again,
controls are provided for
adding or removing a location from the neighbors list.
Because entering the MAC address of the concentrators for each location may be
a
tedious, time-consuming, and error-prone business (especially in installations
having dozens or
even hundreds of concentrators), a mechanism is provided to automate the
process. The
administrator first defines the location names by adding them to the Locations
list box ¨ this will
usually take only a minute or two. The association of concentrators to
locations is then made by
taking a walking tour through the premises. The administrator begins the tour
by issuing the
Begin Tour voice command. As he roams around the premises, the Genie will
announce each
transition from one concentrator to another. At each transition, the Genie
recites the MAC
address of the concentrator, as well as the name of the location, if any, to
which the concentrator
is currently assigned. If no location is assigned, the administrator is
invited to speak the name of
the location to which the concentrator belongs. The MAC address of that
concentrator is then
automatically added to the list corresponding to the given location. The
administrator invokes
the End Tour voice command to terminate the session. As an additional aid, the
Assign Location
voice command is provided, which allows the currently associated concentrator
to be assigned to
a location at any time (whether touring or not). Note also that the MAC
address and location of
the currently associated concentrator can always be determined through the
Info menu selection
, on the badge.
A Record Location Prompt voice command is also provided that allows a prompt
to be
recorded for a particular location. The prompt is used by system in
conjunction with voice
commands that utter location names. If no prompt is recorded, text-to-speech
synthesis is used
instead. The Begin/End Tour, Assign Location, and Record Location Prompt voice
commands
all require the user to have the system administration voice command
permission. Three voice
commands are provided to users that make use of locations. The "Where Is?"
command permits
location of a particular user. The "Locate" command allows one to identify
members of a group
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who are currently in or close to a given location. For example, the command,
"Locate technical
support reps in the Cafeteria" would cause the Genie to find reps in the
Cafeteria and
neighboring locations. Finally, the "Where am I?" voice command allows one to
identify the
location of the concentrator with which he is currently associated. All of
these commands
require the user to be enabled for location.
The administrator application may also include the telephony options page. For
installations in which telephony integration is implemented, the system will
need to be
configured so as to interoperate with the customer's PBX or voice mail system.
Among the
items that likely need to be specified are the following:
= Telephony Installed
This check box field indicates whether or not telephony options have been
installed.
= Outside Access Enabled
This check box field controls whether users have the ability to place outside
calls by
default. If not checked, particular users can be granted this ability through
the User
Administration Page.
= Outside Line Access Code
This text field defines the pattern of digits needed to obtain an outside line
through the
PBX.
= Voice Mail Access Code
This text field defines the pattern of digits needed for direct access of the
voice mail
system through the PBX. Now, the various user pages will be described in more
detail. The user
pages include the basic information page. The basic information page contains
fields giving
background information for the user, including his name, phone numbers, e-mail
address, and so
on. This is the page at which a new user arrives from the login page, and is
the only one
containing fields that must be filled out in order to register. In the listing
below, the required
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fields are notated with asterisks. Now, the user pages that are part of the
application will be
described in more detail.
As described above, in a preferred embodiment, the console may include a
plurality of
different user pages, including but not limited to, a basic information page,
an announcement
options page, a call screening options page, a buddy list page, a forwarding
options page, a
groups page and a miscellaneous options page. Each of these pages will now be
described in
more detail.
The basic information page contains fields giving background information for
the user,
including his name, phone numbers, e-mail address, and so on. This is the page
at which a new
user arrives from the login page, and is the only one containing fields that
must be filled out in
order to register. In the listing below, the required fields are notated with
asterisks:
= Login Name(*)
This is the unique identifier the user enters to gain access to the
console/application. For
example, "JSmith". In a corporate setting, it is likely to be the user's e-
mail address. In this
case, the e-mail address field (below) does the job, and no separate Login
Name field is
necessary.
= Login Password (*)
Password may be used to gain access to the console (passwords may or may not
be
mandatory, depending on the system configuration). The system administrator
password will
always work as well.
= First and Last Name (*)
Includes fields for first name and last name.
= E-Mail Address
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Gives the e-mail address to which voice messages are directed using the Send E-
Mail
voice command.
= Desk Telephone No.
This is the user's desk phone number to which incoming calls can be redirected
(see
Unanswered Call Options below).
= Cell Phone No.
This is the user's cell phone number, to which incoming calls can be
redirected (see
Unanswered Call Options below).
= Home Phone No.
= Spoken Name
This is the full spoken name other users should say to refer to this user. For
example,
"Call John Smith". The system retains, as part of the user's profile, a voice
audio file that
records the user's spoken name in that user's own voice. This audio file is
used to construct a
confirmation prompt when some other party calls the user. The file is recorded
as part of the
badge registration process described in a later section. The system will, by
default, recognize the
full name (first and last) of a user. Often, however, a user may go by a
variation of his formal
name - he may go by "Jim Smith", for example, rather than "James Smith". The
spoken name
field allows such a variation to be specified.
The spoken name field is also useful for providing a phonetically spelled
variant in the
case of a foreign name or a name with an unusual pronunciation. For example,
Jim Beaumont
might be given the spoken name, "Jim Bow-mont". An information dot will be
furnished to give
the user some guidance as to how to develop a phonetic spelling. A phonetic
pronunciation
wizard may be provided as well.
The system retains, as part of the user's profile, a voice audio file that
records the spoken
name in a user's own voice. This audio file is used to construct a
confirmation prompt when
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some other party calls the user. The Record Name voice command allows a user
to record or re-
record his name prompt. If no prompt has been recorded, the system synthesizes
the name using
text-to-speech.
= Alternate Spoken Names
In many cases, a person may go by more than one name, or his name may be
pronounced
by different people in different ways. To provide for this eventuality, up to
three alternative
names may be supplied in addition to the primary spoken name. For example,
"Kathy Johnson"
might be a supplied as the primary name, while "Kate Johnson", "Katie
Johnson", and "Miss
Johnson" might be provided as secondary names. These alternate names are
stored in the
database 130 similar to the other user profile information.
= Identifying Phrase
The identifying phrase is used to distinguish two users who may happen to have
identical
first and last names, such as John Smith. In such a case, their identifying
phrases might be "John
Smith in Marketing", and "John Smith in Sales", respectively. If a caller asks
for John Smith,
the Genie retorts, "Say either John Smith in Marketing or John Smith in
Sales". If an identifying
phrase is given, the Record Name voice command will prompt the user to record
the
corresponding prompt. In the absence of such a recording, the system uses text-
to-speech
synthesis.
= Badge ID
This field gives the ID number of the badge currently assigned to the given
user, if any.
The ID is actually a ten-character alphanumeric encoding the unique physical
(MAC) address of
the badge. A badge can be assigned either by explicitly entering the ID into
the field, or by voice
command, as described later in the section entitled Badge Assignment. Note
that in some
environments, the MAC addresses of the badges may need to be explicitly
registered with the
wireless LAN concentrator(s) or RADIUS server as part of the security regime.
= "Away" Messages
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This stores recorded messages a user can elect to have played back to the
caller when not
available. A particular message can be selected either through the console or
via voice
command.
The announcement options page will now be described. This page presents the
user with
various choices controlling interaction with the Genie and notifications of
different events.
= Genie Persona
Users can choose the Genie personality with whom they will interact from among
a
number of different genders and personalities, including male, female, and
even HAL-like
voices. The choice of Genie controls not only the voice and personality in
which verbal prompts
are recited, but also various signaling tones, such as the "earcon" that
announces that the Genie is
listening. Note once again that in many vertical markets, users may not have
access to the
application, and a choice of persona may be made once and for all by the
system administrator.
The Genie Persona choice is presented on the page as a radio button group.
Each button is
accompanied by a label giving the name of the persona, and a button the-user
can click on to hear
an introductory message from the Genie.
= Genie Greeting Radio Group
This option allows the user to select how the Genie that he is listening for a
command
when the activate button is pressed. The control offers three alternatives:
o Tone Greeting
o Spoken Greeting
o Tone and Spoken Greeting
In the first case, only a tonal "earcon" is played. In the second, only a
persona-specific
spoken phrase is played (such as "Vocera", or "Good Morning, Bob") is played.
In the last case,
the tone is played followed by the spoken phrase.
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= Verbal Genie Greeting Checkbox
If this option is elected, the Genie announces his presence with a spoken
phrase (such as
"Vocera", or "Good Morning, Bob") after the Genie earcon is played. If not,
only the earcon is
played.
= Call Announcement Tone
This control is a drop-down box from which the user can select the sound to
play to
announce an incoming call. Note that this selection is independent of the
Genie selection. Once
again, a button is provided to allow the user to hear the selected prompt. At
the same time that
the call announcement tone is played, the name of the caller is displayed (if
ascertainable) on the
LCD. The system may permits customized ring signals to be used for different
callers such that a
particular caller may have a particular ring tone associated with him/her.
= Verbal Announcement Checkbox
If this option is elected, incoming calls are announced verbally by the Genie
after the call
announcement tone is played: "Can you speak to John Smith?" for example. If
the auto-answer
feature (see below) is enabled, the verbal prompt is an announcement as
opposed to a question:
"Here is John Smith".
= Auto Answer
Ordinarily, it is necessary to take an explicit action to accept an incoming
call. This can
be done either verbally (for example, "Accept") or by pressing the activate
button. The call can
also be explicitly rejected, either verbally or by pressing and holding the
activate button. If
verbal call announcement is not selected, a call can also be rejected
implicitly simply by not
answering. Note that incoming calls can thus be accepted (or rejected) in a
completely hands-
free manner.
By electing the auto answer option, the call is put through without explicit
acknowledgement. If verbal call announcement is currently enabled, the Genie
simply says,
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"Here's Johnny!" rather than "Can you speak to Johnny?" Auto answer is useful
when a team is
engaged in frequent communication, and maximal efficiency is desired.
= Auto "Who Called?"
If this option is elected, the Genie will automatically, upon invocation, say
who called or
left messages. More precisely, the Genie will recite the names of users who
unsuccessfully
called or tried to deliver a message since the last Genie invocation: "You had
a call from Jim
Jones and an urgent message from Jack Smith." The user can then issue verbal
commands to
retrieve any messages, or to call back whoever had called.
= On / Off Network Alert
If this option is checked, an audible alert is signaled when a badge enters or
leaves the
network. This is most useful in environments wherein users are expected to
turn in their badge
prior to leaving the premises. Network status / signal strength is also
indicated on the LCD
display.
= Low Battery Alert
If this option is checked, a tone sounds periodically when a low battery
condition is
detected. Battery condition is also indicated on the LCD display.
= Misplaced Badge Finder
When this checkbox option is enabled, the badge emits a periodic sound,
enabling its
location to be ascertained if it is within the network. This feature will work
only if the badge is
within the network neighborhood and if the batteries have not yet run down.
Text Message Announcement Method
This setting specifies how the user's badge "rings" in the event of an
incoming text
message.
The options are:
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1) Verbal announcement ("You've got text!")
2) Various ringing signals (courtesy tones, ringing signals, melodies, etc.);
and/or
3) None
In all cases, the LCD will display the name of the calling party (if known)
and the LED
will blink fast green.
The call screening options page will now be described. The call screening
options
determine whose calls are allowed through when the user is reachable (i.e.,
within the network
neighborhood and not in do-not-disturb mode.). By "allowed through", we mean
only that the
call is announced; it may still be rejected ¨ for example, simply by not
answering. Calls that are
not allowed through are handled according to the setting of the Forwarding
Options described
below.
Call screening entails selection from among two primary options, presented in
as a radio
button group:
= Accept All Calls
This option effectively turns off call screening, allowing calls from
everyone, including
those who may be calling in from the outside.
= Block All Calls
This option, at the opposite extreme, allows no calls.
In addition to selecting from the two primary options, a user may add or
remove entries
from an exception list. As the name implies, the exception list enumerates
individual users and
groups of users that represent exceptions to the primary selection. For
example, if Block All
Calls is selected, and Tech Support is added to the exception list, then calls
from anyone in Tech
Support are accepted. Similarly, if Accept All Calls is the primary selection,
then adding Tech
Support to the exception list blocks calls from anyone in Tech Support.
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These call screening options, including manipulation of the exceptions list,
can be
controlled by voice command as well as through the browser application. For
example, the
command "Block all calls except from Steve Loscatoff and Randy Nielsen" causes
the primary
selection to be Block All Calls, and causes Steve and Randy to be placed on
the exceptions list.
The command, "Accept calls only from Steve Loscatoff and Randy Nielsen" has
exactly the
same effect. Now, the buddy list page will be described.
The buddy list page permits a user to generate/manage his/her buddy list. The
buddy list
is a list of parties with whom the user frequently communicates, and whose
calls will normally be
accepted, if not blocked by one of the call screening options enumerated
above. A user's buddies
each have a nickname that can (optionally) be used in voice commands in place
of the buddy's
full spoken name. By default, the nickname is just the buddy's first name.
However, the user
may specify any name he wants ¨ for example, "Butch", "Maverick", or "Boss".
Note that the
nickname is private to the user, so that different users may assign a
different nickname to the
same person. For example, John may be on Mary's buddy list and Gina's buddy
list, but may be
called "Jack" by Mary, and "Johnny Baby" by Gina.
A buddy may be assigned VIP status. If given this status, the buddy can break
in to the
user in an urgent situation even if he would otherwise be blocked by dint of
one of the call
screening options - even if the user is in do-not-disturb mode at the time. In
such a situation, the
buddy is asked by the system whether the call is urgent. If he answers
affirmatively, he is allowed
through; otherwise, the normal unanswered call procedure is followed (see
Forwarding Options).
In addition, a call announcement option may be elected for each buddy. In this
way, the
user can know who is calling on the basis of the tone announcing the call. The
election
overrides the general Call Announcement Tone setting.
A user's buddy list may include named groups as well as individuals. For
example,
putting Tech Support on your buddy list will insure that the tech support
folks will always be
able to reach you. Adding a group to the buddy list is tantamount to adding
each member of the
group to the list. The buddy list may also include outsiders (i.e., non-
users), such as external
business associates, friends, or Mom. When an outsider is designated as a
buddy, a phone
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number and e-mail address can be filled in. The phone number allows the buddy
to be dialed by
name ("Call Mom"), and the e-mail address allows the buddy to be sent an e-
mail with a voice
message attachment ("Send E-Mail to Mom").
The buddy relationship is not necessarily reciprocal; for example, the fact
that the boss
has added Mary to his buddy list does not imply that the boss is on Mary's
buddy list. However,
in many team situations, being a buddy is a two-way street. The following two
options are
provided for convenience in such situations:
o Automatic Buddies
If Mary elects this option and John adds Mary to his buddy list, then John
will
automatically be added to Mary's buddy list.
o Automatic Notification
If Mary elects this option and John adds Mary to his buddy list, then the next
time that
Mary accesses her user console, she will be notified that John has added her
to his list, and can
choose at that time to add John to hers (or not). Note that in the case of a
team, it may be most
convenient to create a named group (see Named Groups below); the name of the
group could be
entered into each user's buddy list.
Note that in the case of a team, it may be most convenient to create a named
group (see
Groups Page below); the name of the group could be entered into each user's
buddy list. The
voice commands for call screening can refer to buddies explicitly, as in,
"Block all calls except
from Buddies", or "Block only calls from Buddies."
The forwarding options page permits the user to customize the forwarding
options of the
wireless communications system. Forwarding options come into play when a call
cannot get
through, either because the user is currently not within the network
neighborhood, or because the
call is blocked or refused. The system first checks the forwarding options to
see whether the
unanswered call should be forwarded to a phone number or to some other user's
badge (such as
that of an assistant) or to a group. If so, an attempt is made to forward the
call. If the forwarding
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is successful, no further action occurs. Success, in this case, means that the
call was answered,
even if by an answering machine or voice mail. (In the case of forwarding to
another badge,
success means that the person to whom the call was forwarded was available and
accepted the
call). If no forwarding is specified, or if forwarding was not successful, the
user's greeting is
played (if one was recorded), and the caller is asked whether he wishes to
leave a message. The
forwarding options are presented as a group of radio buttons. Note that the
desk phone number,
cell phone number, and home phone numbers will need to have been specified in
the Basic
Information Page.
= No Forwarding (default choice)
= Forward to Desk Phone
If this option is elected, the call is redirected to the user's desk phone
extension. From
there, it may be picked up by the customer's voice mail system.
= Forward to Voice Mail
In this case, the desk phone does not ring, but instead, the call is routed
directly to the
user's voice mailbox
= Forward to Cell Phone
This option is similar to "Forward to Desk Phone" option, except that the
user's cell
phone number is dialed instead.
= Forward to Home Phone
= Forward to Another Number
If this option is selected, a text field must be filled with the number to be
called.
= Quick Message
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The caller is prompted for a short (no more than 10 seconds) message. As soon
as the
user becomes available (is within the network neighborhood, and is allowing
calls from the
caller), the system automatically calls the user and plays the message.
= Record Message for Voice Mail
This option makes it possible for a voice mail message to be left without
going through
the tedium of interacting with the user's voice mail system. Instead, the
caller is immediately
prompted for a message. Afterwards, the system calls up the user's voice mail
box and plays
back the message "behind the scenes" without the caller's having to wait.
= Forward to Badge
If this option is selected, a user or group to which to forward the call must
be designated.
Forward to Badge might be used, for example, to redirect a call to an
administrative assistant.
= Voice-Enabled E-Mail
The caller is prompted for a message, which is then attached to an e-mail and
sent to the
user.
= Voice-To-Text
The caller is prompted for a message, which is then transliterated to text and
sent to the
user, either through the network or through the pager service.
All of the forwarding options can be invoked using the Forward voice command.
The groups page permits the user to customize the groups feature of the
wireless
communications system. In particular, it is often convenient to name groups of
users that can be
referred to collectively. Groups often reflect organizational structure
(Marketing, Tech Support,
Security), and individual roles (Managers, Cashiers), but may also serve other
purposes, such as
to identify extemporaneous project teams. Group names can be provided as name
arguments in
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most voice commands that take name parameters, can be entered in buddy lists
and can have
forwarding options just as ordinary users can.
The Groups Page provides the functionality needed to define and manage groups.
It has
means for creating or deleting groups, for adding or removing members, and for
defining
scheduling procedures when a group member is to be dispatched. System
administration options
control which users may perform these operations. The groups may also include
a private group,
which is visible only to the user who creates the group. The Groups Page
contains the following
controls and fields:
= Group Selector
This control is a drop-down box that lists the names of all groups. When a
group is
selected from this list, the remaining controls on the page show information
pertaining to that
group.
= New Group Button
This button, used to define a new group, is enabled only if the user has group-
creation
privileges. When pressed, the controls on the rest of the page are cleared to
permit definition of
the new group.
= Duplicate Group Button
Operation is similar to New Group, but copies over settings from the
previously selected
group.
= Delete Group Button
This button, which deletes the currently displayed group, is enabled only if
the user has
group deletion privileges. A confirmation dialog is presented when the button
is pressed. (Note,
however, that as with all other pages, changes are saved only if the Save
button at the bottom of
the page is pressed.)
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^ Group Name Field (*)
This text field defines the name of the group as it appears in buddy lists,
etc. The group
name should reflect the collective form of the name of the group, as in
Managers, Cashiers,
Technical Support, Marketing.
= Spoken Name Field
By default, the group name also serves as the spoken name. This field allows a
phonetic
pronunciation to be designated instead. The spoken name should give the
collective form of the
group. The Record Group Prompts voice command can be invoked to record a
prompt
vocalizing the name of the group. In the absence of such a prompt, text-to-
speech is used.
= Spoken Member Name Field
This field gives the spoken name of a member of a group. For the Tech Support
group,
for example, this field could be filled in with "a technical support agent."
For the Cashiers
group, it would likely be filled in with "a cashier". If the group defines a
role that is occupied by
only one person at a time, the prefix "the" should be used rather than "a".
For example, if a store
has only one Store Manager on duty at a time, "the store manager" should be
used.
= Spoken Member Name Field ¨ Plural Form
Similar to Spoken Member Name, but gives the plural form. For the Tech Support
group,
for example, this field could be filled in with "technical support agents."
For the Cashiers group,
it would likely be filled in with "cashiers". If the group defines a role that
is occupied by only
one person at a time, this field should be left blank. The Record Group
Prompts voice command
can be invoked to record prompts vocalizing the spoken names just described.
hi the absence of
such prompts, text-to-speech is used.
= Scheduling Algorithm
When a user says "Call Tech Support", he does not wish to speak to everyone in
tech
support, but rather to any Tech Support person who is currently available. The
scheduling
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algorithm determines the order in which group members will be checked for
availability. The
following choices are offered as a radio group:
o Sequential Order
Members of the group are always tried in the order in which they appear in the
group
membership list. This algorithm is useful in environments in which one of the
members takes
primary responsibility for answering calls, but for which back-up members are
named.
o Round-Robin Order
Members of the group are tried in a rotational order. A time stamp is
maintained for each
member, so that the person who least recently took a call is the first one
tried in the current
round. This algorithm is useful in environments in which it is desirable to
spread the load in a
fair manner.
= Membership List
The membership list is a table that displays all the current members of the
group, and
possibly a time stamp giving the last time the member took a call as a member
of the group.
Group members can be either individuals or other groups. Groups can thus be
nested within
other groups. For example, the House Keeping group might be a member of the
Guest Services
group. Rows of the membership list can be selected to facilitate the member
operations listed
below.
= Member Add / Delete
Buttons are provided to add a new member, as well as to delete the currently
selected
member(s). Pressing the Add button brings up a dialog from which a new user or
group can be
selected as a new member.
= Member Reordering
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Because scheduling works with respect to the order of members in the
Membership list, it
is useful to be able to change the ordering of members in the list. Move Up
and Move Down
buttons are provided for this purpose, and cause the currently selected member
to be moved
upward or downward, respectively, in the membership list.
= Forwarding Options
Voice commands can also be used to allow users to add or remove themselves
from a
group.. A user simply says, for example, "Add me to group Tech Support", or
"Remove me
from group Tech Support". In the event he is a member of more than one group,
the Genie will
ask for the name of the group. Adding and removal in this way requires a
permission defined on
the User Administration page of the administration browser application.
Voice commands are also provided to list the members of a group ("Who is in
Tech
Support?") and to list the groups of which a user is a member ("What groups am
I a member
of?") or to enumerate all of the existing groups in the system ("List all
Groups"). The Groups
Page can be made invisible to non-administrators through a system
administration option. In this
case, the Groups menu button will simply be omitted from the page selection
menu.
The groups page may further include the following features.
= Locate Enabled Option
This option controls whether the user will allow himself to be located when
within the
network neighborhood (see description of the Where command). The user may wish
to turn this
off for privacy reasons (if system administration policy permits).
= Auto "Who Called?" Option
If this option is elected, the user is automatically notified as to who tried
unsuccessfully to
reach him. The notification occurs when the user next activates his badge.
= Logging and Archive Options
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These options control:
o Logging of calls and text messages
If enabled, the console maintains a log of call and message activity. The log
shows the
date, time, and originator (including phone number of an outsider caller, if
determinable) of each
call or pager message.
= Save Messages
If this option is selected, text messages will be automatically "uploaded"
from the badge
periodically and saved. Controls are provided in the console for viewing and
deleting these
archived messages.
= Genie Prompt Options
When the user summons the voice recognition system (the Genie) by activating
his badge,
a prompt is played to signal that the Genie is listening. This option allows
the user to choose
from among a number of prompt options, including:
1) Verbal Prompt (such as "Vocera ¨ how can I help you?"); and/or
=
2) Various courtesy tones.
Electing this option makes the voice command prompts more verbose. The verbal
commands are unchanged, but the user is "babied" more.
= Predefined ("Canned") Text Messages
Predefined, or "canned" messages provide a means by which a user can reply to
messages
or calls from other users simply by making a selection from the badge display
menus. See the
"Text Messaging" section for a more detailed description of this feature.
= Learn Mode Option
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Electing this option makes the voice command prompts more verbose. The verbal
commands are unchanged, but the user is "babied" more.
= Power Control Options
These may include, for example, restricted hours of operation that save
battery power.
= Pager CAP Code
This field gives the CAP Code assigned to the user. As with the Badge Serial
No, this
field cannot be set by the user. It will instead be set either by the system
administrator, or will
already have set inside the badge itself at the factory. Now, the badge
assignment process in
accordance with the invention will be described in more detail.
Figure 8A illustrates the badge assignment process in which a badge may be in
an
unassigned state 168a or an assigned state 168b. The badge being assigned and
unassigned may
include the badge device or the access device with the badge application. The
assignment/unassignment process may be carried out with a browser 169a, with
first use 169b
and with voice commands 169c. In more detail, the system must be aware of
which badge each
user is wearing so that calls can be properly routed. Badge assignment is the
process of
associating a badge with a particular user. At any given time, a badge can be
assigned to at most
one user, and each user can have at most one badge assigned. Note that each
badge is uniquely
identified by a Badge ID that encodes its network MAC address. Assigning a
badge to a
particular user is therefore tantamount to assigning a Badge ID (MAC address)
to that user. If
the user leaves the network boundary (and loses connection with the network)
and then returns to
the network, the badge will send its MAC address to the server 36 when it
returns to the network
and the system will be able to automatically re-associate/re-assign the badge
back to the user
based on the MAC address of the badge by looking up the MAC address in the
user profile
database to locate the user.
A number of ways of assigning a badge are provided in order to accommodate
different
customer requirements. In some cases, the system administrator or the user
himself may wish to
pre-assign badges at the time the user is added to the system. In other
environments, badges will
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be shared or allocated from a pool at the beginning of a shift. In this latter
case, assignment will
more likely be performed dynamically through the "Log On" voice command.
When a badge is assigned, the name of the user is downloaded to the badge at
the next
opportunity, and is displayed on the LCD when no conversation is in progress.
(If a badge is not
currently assigned, the display shows the Badge ID.) In addition, user badge
preferences stored
in the user profile database, such as a network boundary alert or a battery
low alert, may be
downloaded to the badge so that the particular badge currently assigned to the
user will operate
according to the user's badge operation preferences. The assignment also
causes any text
messages that had been previously stored in the badge to be cleared, and any
text messages
available for the user to whom the badge is assigned to be downloaded
automatically. From the
user's point of view, his messages "follow" him. If a badge becomes unassigned
(via one of the
methods described below), the messages are cleared. Following are descriptions
of the different
methods of assigning and un-assigning badges:
= Assignment / Unassignment through the Browser Application
A badge can be assigned by explicitly entering its ID in the Badge ID field of
the Basic
Information Page. If the badge was previously assigned to a different user, a
warning message is
issued. The badge can be unassigned simply by clearing the field, or by
reassigning its ID to a
different user.
= Assignment on First Use
If the badge is unassigned at the time the Genie is hailed, the Genie will
greet the user and
ask the user to say his name. If the name is recognized, the badge will then
be assigned to the
user. Note that the assignment will work only if the user had been previously
registered in the
system. The assignment may also be predicated on a successful match of the
voiceprint of the
user, using the verification feature of the speech recognition system.
= Assignment/Unassignment by Voice Command
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At any time, the badge can be reassigned dynamically using the "Log On" voice
command. Once again, the reassignment will work only if the user has been
previously
registered in the system. And once again, if voiceprints are used, a
successful match is required.
Badges can be unassigned using the "Log Off' voice command. Note that in each
case, the
bearer of the badge must first be registered with the system (or be registered
by the administrator)
before the badge can be assigned to him. In cases where visitors may be
provided with a badge
to be used temporarily, it may be useful for the administrator to register a
few "Guest" users (the
registration process only takes a moment) and assign guest badges to them. If
desired, the
spoken name of the guest can be entered through the user console, so that
other users can hail
him by name as opposed to an appellation such as "Guest Three". Now, the
operating states of
the communications badge in accordance with the invention will be described.
Figure 8B is a state diagram 170 illustrating the preferred operating states
of a
communications badge (either the badge device or the access device with the
badge application)
in accordance with the invention. The operating states may include an off
state 172 in which the
badge is not operational and a ready state 173 in which the badge is ready to
be used but in not
currently being used for any purpose. The states may further include a hail
genie state 174 as
described below, a call state 176 as described below with reference to Figure
10, a do not disturb
state 178 as described below and an out of range state 180 when the badge is
not within the
network neighborhood.
To move from the off state to the ready state, the badge is activated and to
move back to
the off state, the badge is deactivated. When the user wishes to initiate a
call or other interaction
with the server 36 (i.e., the Genie), he must explicitly activate the badge by
pressing the activate
button. Note that for reasons of power conservation and other resource
constraints, the voice
recognition server cannot be listening all the time ¨ one cannot wake it up
simply by uttering
some magic word. Moreover, it is quite important that a user understand when
the microphone is
active and when it is not. For these reasons, explicit activation is used to
initiate an interaction.
A badge may, however, be activated automatically as a result of an incoming
call from some
other party. Automatic activation requires that the badge be powered on at the
time.
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Upon activation, a sound prompt called an earcon is played alerting the user
to the fact
that the Genie is now listening. The earcon is a function of the Genie persona
configured in the
browser application. If activation is unsuccessful because the user is not
currently within the
network neighborhood, a prompt is played informing the user. Once the Genie
earcon is played,
the user can interact with the server through voice commands. Command dialogs
other than
those that result in the establishment of a conversation with other people are
automatically
terminated by the Genie. The Genie will simply say "Good Bye", or some such,
and the user will
not need to take any further action.
If the interaction with the Genie results in the establishment of a
conversation with other
people, the Genie bows out and the parties are left to converse. No further
pushbutton action is
likely to be needed until one of the parties wishes to disconnect. This is
done with another press
of the activate button, which causes the badge to revert back to the standby
state. Disconnection
occurs without having to explicitly press the activate button in each of the
following
circumstances: In the case where a call is in progress, and all other parties
to the call disconnect,
the remaining party is automatically disconnected without having to press the
button. In the
event that the radio link fails because the user wanders outside coverage of
the network for more
than a several seconds grace period, disconnection occurs. Disconnection is
always accompanied
by a prompt informing the user as to what happened.
Note that a press action is used to initiate a call, and a press-and-hold
action is used to
explicitly disconnect. More generally, the press action is always used as a
positive or initiating
action, whereas press-and-hold is always used as a negative, or canceling
action. Press is used
not only to initiate a session with the Genie, but also to accept an incoming
call, to save a
message or greeting that is being recorded, and other affirmative actions.
Press-and-hold, on the
other hand, is used not only to terminate a call, but also to reject an
incoming call, and to cancel
the record or play of a message or greeting in progress.
Using a simple positive / negative semantic rule for these actions not only
makes it easier
and more intuitive to use the system, but also makes it possible to respect a
design principle
requiring that the same command action be used to achieve a particular result
across all contexts.
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So for example, if pressing the activate button again (as opposed to pressing-
and-holding) were
used to terminate a call, then the means used to hail the Genie or accept an
incoming call would
need to change depending on whether or not a call was in progress. This would
likely result in
users inadvertently disconnecting their call when they were expecting to hail
the Genie.
= Placing a Call on Hold
During the course of a call, a user may be approached by other people who may
not be
aware that a conversation is in progress. Conversely, the user may wish to
consult privately with
someone else in the room. In such cases, it is desirable to be able to place
the current call on
hold quickly and easily. A hold button is conveniently located at the top of
the unit for this
purpose. To place an ongoing call on hold, the user simply presses the hold
button. A verbal
prompt announces that the call is being placed on hold, and the hold button
illuminates. The
other party to the conversation, for his part, hears a prompt politely asking
him to hold. In the
case of a conference call, however, the remaining parties hear a tone warning
them that a party
has left the conversation, but can continue to talk. Similarly, if a
conference is rejoined, the
remaining parties hear a tone warning them that another party has entered the
conversation.
Having placed the call on hold, the user can no longer hear nor be heard by
the other party.
To return to the conversation, one simply presses the hold button a second
time. He will
then hear a prompt confirming that he is rejoining the call. The holding party
is similarly
notified, and the call continues. While a call is on hold, the user may wish
to hail the Genie by
pressing the activate button. A description of what transpires in that case is
given in the section
labeled Hailing the Genie below. Note that if the original call is
disconnected for some reason in
the meantime (because, for example, the other party disconnected, or the user
who placed the call
on hold wandered outside the network neighborhood), then the hold mode is
terminated, and the
disconnect prompt is played.
= Do-Not-Disturb (DND) Mode
If pressed while no call is in progress, the hold button places the badge in a
mode in
which all calls are blocked. The hold button blinks to signal the mode. This
feature provides a
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quick and silent method for a user who is entering a meeting, for example, to
insure that he will
not be disturbed. The semantics are similar to the Block All Calls screening
mode. Thus,
buddies with VIP status will still be able to reach the user in the event of
an emergency. The
mode can later be left by pressing the hold button a second time, or by
pressing the activate
button to activate the badge. In principle, one could allow DND mode to
continue even if the
badge is activated. This would clash with the use of the button to place calls
on hold, and would
require different interactions for Hold and DND, thereby complicating the use
of the button.
Since activating the badge likely means that the user is now out of his
meeting, it is probably
acceptable that this action ends the DND mode.
= Hailing the Genie
As described earlier, pressing the activate button while the badge is inactive
summons the
Genie. If the dialog with the Genie results in the successful establishment of
a connection with
another party or parties, the Genie bows out of the conversation and the
speech recognition port
then becomes free to serve a different user. The user may wish, however, to
regain the attention
of the Genie in the midst of the conversation ¨ for example, for the purpose
of conferencing in
another party. To hail the Genie without terminating the current call, the
user places the current
call on hold, and then presses the activate button again. This action will
invoke the Genie. Once
the interaction with the Genie has concluded, the user will rejoin the
conversation in progress
automatically. The user can terminate interaction with the Genie (and
rejoining the call on hold)
at any time by pressing the activate button, or by uttering the "Good Bye"
voice command. The
case in which the user initiates another call while the first call is on hold
is described
momentarily. Now, the Genie commands will be described in more detail.
= Genie Commands
The design of the voice command system is such as to strike an appropriate
balance
between flexibility of expression, on the one hand, and predictability on the
other. Another
balance to be struck is that between economy of expression and ease of
learning. Given that the
application is used every day, elaborate dialogs and confirmation protocols
for frequently used
commands are to be avoided. To accommodate the learning process while
retaining economy of
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expression, both a verbose learning mode and a less prolix high efficiency
mode are supported,
and are selectable from the User Console.
= Command Syntax
For the most part, voice commands have a simple "verb object" structure. For
example,
"Call John Smith" is typical. Commands keywords for the most common commands
may have
synonyms. For example, instead of "Call John Smith", one could say "Get me
John Smith", or
"Find John Smith".
o Noise Words
Certain "noise" and "hesitation" words may be used as well. One might say, for
example, "Um, Vocera, please get me John Smith". Naturally, there are limits
to the tolerance
for variations. The system may not recognize "Where the **** is John Smith!!".
o Name Arguments
In general, commands that include user names and group names as arguments to
respond
to one of the spoken names registered for that user or group in the browser
application.
However, if the party in question is included on the buddy list of the caller,
the nickname listed
for that buddy may be used instead. Spoken names and buddy nicknames may not
be unique. In
the event of ambiguity, the Genie will ask the user which of the possibilities
he means by playing
back the spoken name recorded for each possibility. If two users have exactly
the same full
name, the identifi)ing phrase set in the Basic Information page of the browser
application can be
used to disambiguate. Most commands that take name arguments allow up to three
names to be
cited. In this case, the names must be separated by "and", as in "John and
Mary", or "John Jones
and Mary Bush and Jim Smith". Group names may be used as well, as in "Leave a
message for
John and Tech Support." If the Genie has trouble recognizing the name or names
spoken in a
command, it may ask the user to choose among the most likely possibilities.
o Recording of Name Prompts
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Individual users, groups, identifying phrases, and concentrator locations can
have
associated sound files that are played by the Genie in course of a dialog. A
set of voice
commands is provided to enable recording of these prompts. In case the prompt
associated with
a particular entity is missing, TTS (text-to-speech) is used instead. Because
the state-of-the-art of
TTS synthesis, especially in the case of names, is less than perfect, users
and system
administrators should be encouraged to record names for most purposes.
Universal Commands
Universal commands are those that can be uttered whenever the Genie is
listening. The
following universals are supported:
Help ¨ This command calls for context-sensitive help, including the
possibility of
interaction with a human technical support agent at the wireless
communications system.
Cancel ¨ This command cancels the current command.
Quit ¨ The command deactivates the badge.
Goodbye ¨ terminates interaction with the Genie.
Emergency ¨ This command, after confirming, calls "9-1-1".
Barge-In
"Barge-in" refers to the ability for a user to break in with a command while
the Genie is
playing a response, without having to wait for the prompt to complete. Barge-
in will be
supported to the extent possible. Now, the calling and message features of the
system will be
described.
The system supports a number of calling modes and features, including multi-
party calls,
conferencing, call waiting, call forwarding, and call transfers. A number of
messaging features
are provided as well, including voice message broadcast, and text messaging.
Features are also
included that allow the current location of users to be determined. A
descriptions of these
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various functions in the form of scenarios, starting with basic calling, and
progressing through
more advanced calling features, messaging, and location will now be described.
In particular, a
badge to badge communications session and then the other call states will be
described in more
detail.
Figure 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method 190 for performing a badge to
badge
communications session in accordance with the invention. In step 192, the
calling party (let's
call her Mary) initiates the call by pressing the activate button to summon
the Genie. Upon
hearing the Genie prompt, she issues a command in step 194, such as, "Call
John Smith", or "Get
me John Smith", where John Smith is the spoken name of the called party. If
John Smith is on
the caller's buddy list, John's nickname can be used instead: "Get Jack". The
Genie confirms
the command by replying, "Finding John Smith..." wherein the "John Smith" part
is played in
John's own voice. If the server incorrectly recognizes John's name ("Finding
Joan Smith..."),
Mary can simply say, "Cancel" and reissue the Call command.
In step 196, the server 36 (using the user database) determines if the
recipient is available.
If the recipient is not available (e.g., If John is outside the network
neighborhood or is currently
blocking calls from Mary), the response in step 198 depends on the setting of
John's Unanswered
Call options. If John has specified a forwarding method (as shown in step
200), the call is
automatically routed using that method; if John has specified one of the
message recording
options, Mary is asked whether she wants to leave a message (in step 202).
Otherwise, Mary is
told that John is unavailable but will be immediately notified of her call.
The transaction ends,
and Mary's badge is automatically deactivated.
Returning to step 196, assuming that John is currently available, and that
calls from Mary
are not blocked, John's badge signals an incoming call in the manner
determined by his Call
Announcement Method setting in step 204. In addition, Mary's name flashes on
the LCD
display. If John has set the Auto Answer option, the call is put through
immediately. Otherwise,
he accepts or rejects the call either verbally (e.g., "Accept"), or using the
activate button (press to
accept, press and hold to reject). John can also reject implicitly simply by
doing nothing.
Finally, he may decide to reject, but send a message back to Mary ("Tell Mary
..."). If the call is
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accepted in step 206, the conversation between Mary and John begins in step
208 and the Genie
drops out of the loop. If either party needs Genie services during the
conversation, the Genie can
be hailed by putting the current call on hold and pressing the activate button
as described earlier.
Either Mary or John can terminate the call by pressing and holding the
activate button, causing
both badges to be deactivated. If the call is rejected, John's badge
automatically deactivates. If
John used the "Tell" command to leave Mary a message, that message in step 202
is played back
to Mary. What happens next on Mary's side depends on the setting of John's
Call Forwarding
options, as described above. As a shortcut, the call command can also be
invoked simply by
uttering the name of the called party without any verb. For example, Mary
could simply say,
"John Smith", rather than "Get me John Smith."
A badge to badge communications session may be viewed as a peer to peer
communication. Normally, a badge will not compress the voice data being sent
to the server 36
so that the quality of the voice commands to the voice recognition system are
not degraded.
However, if a badge-to-badge communications session is occurring, both badges
will in fact
compress the voice data to the other badge in order to reduce the amount of
data being
communicated between the two badges. If the Genie is communicating to the
badge, the data
will also be compressed. Now, the one or more different call states in
accordance with the
invention will be described in more detail.
Figure 10 is a state diagram illustrating the preferred call states of the
wireless
communications system that uses the badge device or the access device with the
badge
application. The system supports a number of calling modes and features,
including multi-party
calls, on-the-fly conferencing, call waiting, message broadcast, and calls to
and from the PSTN
(public switched telephone network). The states may include a ready state 220
in which a call
may begin, a test message state 222, an inbound call state 224, a voice
broadcast state 226, an
outside call state 228, a who called state 230, a conference call state 232, a
badge to badge call
state 234 as described above including a call waiting state 236, a call group
state 238 and a voice
e-mail state 240. Now, various of these call states will be described in more
detail.
Conference Call State
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If Mary wishes to initiate a conference call with Jim and John, she simply
says, "Call Jim
and John." The two parties will be called and conferenced together to create a
three-party
conversation. Conferences of up to four parties can be created in this way
("Call Jim, John, and
Sam"). The interaction for conference calls differs from that for a straight
two-party call in the
following ways:
Parties that join a conference in session are alerted to that fact via a tone
prompt;
Each new party is announced with a tone, alerting the others; and
If a party is unavailable, he is simply not included; forwarding of calls to
voicemail, and
other Unanswered Call options are inhibited.
A conference can also be initiated by adding parties to an ongoing
conversation. If for
example, Mary wishes to bring Jim into her conversation with John, she hails
the Genie (by
putting John on hold), and says, "Call Jim Jones" in the usual manner. Once
she reaches Jim,
she simply presses the hold button again. At this point, the Genie will ask if
she wants to merge
the two calls. If she answers "Yes", the three parties are now engaged. Note
that if Mary just
wanted to ask Jim a question, she could disconnect after speaking to Jim (by
pressing the activate
button), and would then be back to the original conversation. Note that if Jim
were not available,
the call to him would be forwarded in the normal way, or Mary could leave a
message in the
normal way.
Blind conferencing is even easier. Mary simply hails the Genie and says,
"Invite Jim".
The Genie acknowledges, and without further ado, Mary is back talking to John.
Behind the
scenes, the Genie calls up Jim much in the same manner as would have been the
case had Mary
called both Jim and John in the first place. Assuming Jim is reachable, he
joins the conversation
and tone prompts are played to the various parties apprising them of that
fact. The interaction is
said to be blind because Mary loses control of what happens if Jim is not
reachable, and is also
unable to have a private chat with Jim prior to Jim's joining the
conversation. The ability to
exercise this control is sacrificed for the greater efficiency of the command.
If, in the future, it is
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determined that conferences with greater numbers of parties are needed, a
special half-duplex
conferencing feature can be added to accommodate this.
Call Waiting State
If, in the Badge-to-Badge scenario described earlier, John is already engaged
in a
conversation with another party, he will be alerted to Mary's call with an
audible call waiting
signal. In addition, Mary's name will be displayed on the LCD, and the LED
will blink fast as
with any incoming call. If John wishes to accept the call from Mary, he
presses the activate
button. He will then be speaking to Mary, and his current call will be placed
on hold. When he
is done speaking with Mary, he disconnects in the usual way (by pressing the
activate button),
and will then be back to the original call. The same thing happens if Mary
explicitly disconnects.
John can have Mary conferenced into his original conversation. To do so, he
simply hails the
Genie (by pressing the activate button as usual).
Call Transfer State
Call transfer allows an incoming call to be redirected to a different badge or
outside
number. Calls can be transferred in either a supervised or a blind manner.
Supervised transfer is
done simply by conferencing in the third party, and then bowing out of the
conference. Suppose,
for example, that John calls Mary, who then wishes to redirect the call to
Jim. Mary puts John on
old and hails the Genie in the usual way. She then attempts to call Jim.
Assuming the call
succeeds, she presses the hold button to join the three parties together, bids
her fair well, and then
presses and holds to disconnect. The two remaining parties are left to their
own devices. If, of
course, the attempt to reach Jim fails, Mary is back to talking to John. Note
that all this works
because Mary - the middleman - can leave the conversation without terminating
it. The same
does not work with the typical telephone conferencing feature probably because
no one is left to
pay the toll for the path between Mary and Jim.
Blind transfer is more abbreviated. Mary hails the Genie and says, "Transfer
to Jim." At
this point, she is out of the loop, and the call proceeds very much as if John
had called Jim
directly in the first place. Blind transfer is less trouble for Mary, but
makes it impossible for
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Mary to introduce John to Jim, or to help John if Jim can't be reached. A
special transfer
command, "Transfer to Voice Mail", may be provided as well.
Calls to a Member of a Group State
It is often useful to be able to call someone by function or title rather than
by name. For
example, Mary may need Tech Support, but not know (nor care) who is currently
managing the
help desk ¨ she simply wants to be able to say "Get me Tech Support". The
effect is easily
accomplished by defining "Tech Support" as a group, and by designating one or
more people as
the members of the group. The Tech Support manager, might, for example, set up
this group.
In many situations, the group might have only a single member. In this case,
the group
name serves as an alias for the person who is currently responsible for
answering calls for the
group. If the group has more than one member, the incoming call will be routed
to the first
person on the list who is available. In this way, alternates can back up the
primary group
representative. If the group has more than one member, the system will attempt
to find the first
member of the group who is available according to a scheduling algorithm that
is specified in the
group definition. See the Groups Page description in an earlier section for
details.
Recording a Greeting
With the "Record Greeting" voice command, a user can record a message that
will be
played to callers who unsuccessfully attempts to call. To record a greeting,
Mary invokes the
Genie and says "Record Greeting." The Genie then prompts Mary to begin
recording. When
finished, Mary presses the activate button to indicate that she is done. She
is then asked to
confirm that she wishes to keep the greeting. She can also explicitly cancel
the greeting while it
is being recorded by pressing and holding. The greeting can later be erased
(using the "Erase
Greeting" voice command) or rerecorded.
Who called? State
The "Who called?" voice command can be used to learn of parties who tried
unsuccessfully to reach the user or left a message. After she is done with a
meeting, for example,
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Mary might hail the Genie and asked "Who called?" The Genie might reply,
"John, Sam Spade,
and Mom called" or the Genie might reply, "You had a call from Mom and a
message from John
Brookes". Note that calls that a user misses for any reason are signaled on
the LCD display even
when the user is currently outside the network neighborhood. The "Who called"
command is a
quick way to get this information without having to manipulate the display.
The "Who Called?"
command can be automatically executed when the user activates his badge by
setting the "Auto
Who Called?" option in the User Console.
Voice Message Broadcasts State
This feature affords a means by which users can send recorded voice messages
to one or
more recipients. The most obvious uses of this feature are leaving a message
for someone who is
not currently available to speak, or to broadcast a message to a group.
However, sending a
message is also very useful when one doesn't have time for a call, but wants
to quickly
communicate a thought and get on with one's business.
The messaging is, in any case, a real-time communication mechanism ¨ the
moment a
message is recorded, the system attempts to deliver the message to all
messaged parties.
Suppose, for example, that Mary wishes to leave a message for John, and for
everyone on the
Blowtorch team. She hails the Genie and says, "Send a message to John and The
Blowtorch
Team". The Genie then prompts her for a message ("Please record a message at
the beep. Press
the activate button when done.") Mary articulates the message, then either
just stops talking or
presses the activate button. The system will then ask for a confirmation
("Shall I send this
message?"), and assuming the user agrees, sends the message. Having recorded
the message, the
system will immediately call each targeted user and play it back. Users that
cannot be reached
(because they are away from the network, or have blocked the call) are
notified immediately
upon becoming available. A user can then play back the message using the Play
Messages
command.
Note that the use of groups in this case has a different semantic than that
for calls. If one
says "Call Tech Support", at most one Tech Support person is called; if one
says "Send Message
to The Blowtorch Team", a message is broadcast to every member of the team.
Naturally, calling
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a large group of people at once is challenging and the system only supports
conferences with at
most four participants anyway.
Messages that have been played are automatically deleted after a certain
duration that can
be configured from the System Options page of the administration application.
A user can replay
old messages any time prior to their deletion using the Play Old Messages
variant of the Play
Messages command. Messages will be played in most-recent-first order, with
urgent messages
played before non-urgent ones.
During the play of a message, a user may issue any of the following barge-in
commands:
= Save This command will inhibit deletion of the
message until it is explicitly
deleted using the Delete command below.
= Delete - Deletes the message immediately.
= Repeat - Plays the message again.
= Next ¨ Skips to next message.
A voice message can be marked as urgent, as in "Send urgent message to John
Smith".
In this case, assuming that the sender has VIP status, or is a VIP buddy of
the recipient, message
delivery will be attempted even if the recipient has a call in progress, or if
it would otherwise be
blocked.
Voice E-Mail State
This feature allows a user to send an e-mail with a voice attachment to the e-
mail address
of another user or users (or to outsiders on the buddy list). The interaction
works similarly to
Voice Message Broadcasts, except that the command is "Send e-mail .." rather
than "Send
message.
Outbound Calls State
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Calls can be placed through the public phone system using the Dial command.
For
example, Mary might hail the Genie and say, "Dial area code six-five-oh eight-
five-one-two-two-
three-four". If an outsider has been set up as a buddy, a buddy name can be
provided ("Call
Mom") instead. Note that unanswered calls can also be forwarded to outside
numbers (see
Unanswered Call options above).
Inbound Calls State
Calls can also be accepted from the public phone system. In this case, the
caller dials a
phone number that reaches the system inside the customer premises (perhaps an
extension on the
customer PBX). The caller is then played a greeting, and is prompted by the
system to say the
name of the user to whom he wishes to connect. If caller id is not provided,
the caller is also
asked to identify himself ("Who may I ask is calling?) This information allows
the called user to
be prompted with the name of the caller, and allows the system to recognize
the caller as a
buddy. The call is then routed much in the same way it would were it to have
been originated
internally.
The caller can also enter the user's numeric identifier, such as an desk
extension number,
on the telephone keypad rather than pronouncing the user's name. To accomplish
this mapping
from the extension to the user, the system may first map the digit sequence to
a user and then
map the user name to the currently assigned IP address based on the user
profile database.
Remote Dial-In State
This feature makes it possible for a user to treat his cell phone, for
example, as if it were a
badge. The user dials the system, as in the case of inbound calls. (The number
would typically be
set up as a speed-dial number.) Using caller id, the system recognizes the
identity of the user,
and hails the Genie. The user can now interact with the Genie in the usual
manner. Pressing a
key on the cell phone simulates the action of the activate button.
Text Messaging State
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The text messaging feature makes it possible for badges to receive, store, and
display text
messages from a number of originating sources. Such messages might be sent by
other users, but
could also be sent automatically (such as by a nurse call center system), or
in response to a future
voice command queries of a database. For example, a user might ask for the
detailed description
and price of an item with a certain part number, or the medical history of a
certain patient. The
response to the query could then be displayed on the screen of the badge.
The system will support these various applications using e-mail and possibly
instant
messaging as a transport mechanism. The server 36 hosts a POP3/IMAP mail
client that serves
as a forwarding mechanism for messages addressed to particular users. A
standardized address
convention is used for this purpose, based on the login name of the user. For
example, to send a
message to Julie's badge at Home Depot, one would simply address an e-mail to
vocera@homedepot.com with "julie" (Julie's login name) as the subject of the e-
mail.
When a message is received on the server, it is immediately downloaded to the
target
badge. If the badge is not currently within the network neighborhood, the
download occurs the
next time the badge reenters the neighborhood. Upon receipt on the badge, a
tone is played to
announce the arrival of the message. In addition, the status' LED blinks to
indicate that a
message is pending. New and old stored messages can be accessed at any time
through the badge
menu system, as described in detail in a later section. Because the messages
are stored locally in
flash memory, they can be perused even when the badge is outside the network
neighborhood.
The local message store will have sufficient capacity to store at least twenty
200-character
messages. When the capacity of the store is exhausted, old messages are
automatically deleted in
the order in which they arrived. If the badge is logged out, the message store
is automatically
erased for privacy reasons. Similarly, upon assignment to a different user,
the messages for that
user are automatically downloaded to it.
Missed Call Notifications State
When an incoming call is missed, either because the user is currently outside
the network
neighborhood, or has blocked or rejected a call, a text record of the missed
call is sent to the
badge. If the user is outside the network, the record is sent though the
paging service; otherwise
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it is sent through the network. The record consists of the date/timestamp of
the call, as well as
the name or caller id (if determinable) of the caller. It is accessible
through the Messages screen
selectable through the badge menu system.
Predefined ("Canned") Replies State
A message replies that have been pre-specified in the User Console (e.g.,
"Yes", "No",
"OK", "Call you later") can be originated through a badge menu selection. This
feature makes it
possible to respond silently to a call or text message received while in a
meeting, and provides
some of the functionality offered by two-way pagers. The user selects the
incoming message in
question from the Message List accessible from the Main badge menu, and
chooses "Reply" from
the pop-up menu. He is then presented with a submenu listing the various
predefined responses,
from which he selects one.
Voice-to-Text State
This feature permits voice messages to be transliterated to text and sent to a
user's badge
either through the network or through the paging service. The voice-to-Text
could be
implemented either completely automatically (using dictation speech
recognition software) or
manually using a behind-the-scenes human service. The feature is accessed
through a voice
command. The user would hail the Genie and say "Send Text Message". He would
then be
prompted for the message (much in the manner of Voice Message Broadcasts),
which would then
be sent out. If the Voice-to-Text option is selected in the User Console as an
Unanswered Call
option, a caller could be prompted automatically for a message if the target
user is not available.
Now, a method for locating a user of a badge in accordance with the invention
will be described
in more detail.
Automatic Location of Users
The system provides a way to determine whether or not a user is currently
within the
network neighborhood and to pinpoint his whereabouts (within the resolution of
an concentrator)
in the event that he is within the network neighborhood. To accomplish this
user location, a
"Locate Enabled" option must be enabled on the system options page of the
administrator
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application described above. The location ability also requires that the
concentrators be
identified with designations that will be meaningful to users ¨ for example,
"Building C, 2nd
Floor, Left Wing". The system may include the ability for the system
administrator to configure
the concentrator designators using the concentrator locations page of the
browser application
described above. The system may also provide two voice location commands. One
command
permits the user to ask the system to determine the location of a particular
user and the other
command permits the user to ask the system to determine the user within a
named group that is
closest to a given location (e.g., I need a tech support person who is near my
location). The
following are examples of the use of these commands:
User: "Where is Jim Jones?"
Genie: "Jim Jones is in Building C, 2nd Floor, Right Wing
User: "Where is Mary?"
Genie: "Mary is currently on the Santa Clara campus in the Cafeteria"
User: "Where is Mary?"
Genie: "Mary is currently off campus."
User: "Who in Tech Support is in Building C?"
Genie: "Brad Jones and Jerry Peters are in Building C"
User: "Where is the closest Tech Support agent?"
Genie: "Brad Jones..."
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Now, the telephone integration of the wireless communications system in
accordance
with the invention will be described in more detail.
A principle design goal of the wireless communications system is integration
with the
customer's telephone and voice mail systems in a manner that is as seamless as
possible. By
"seamless", we mean that the functionality enjoyed by badge users in badge-to-
badge
communication is also available - and works in exactly the same way - when
some or all of the
participants connect to the system through an ordinary telephone. Seamless
integration also
entails that the customer's voice mail system, if any, is accessible smoothly.
Seamless integration is difficult to attain not only because of the intrinsic
differences
between phones and badges, but also because PBX and key telephone systems ¨
especially digital
ones ¨ are not well standardized; nor do there exist standard control
interfaces to voice mail
systems. Worse, individual vendors typically do not publish their proprietary
API's. These
difficulties are compounded by the lack of a single main supplier.
Fortunately, the majority of
interoperability features one could imagine supporting can be implemented by
connecting to the
customer's telephone equipment through standard analog (POTS) lines. Telephone
system
vendors offer modules that can be installed in their key or PBX systems that
provide some
number of analog ports. The hardware aspects of this feature are described
above with reference
to Figure 6.
The telephony integration may include incoming calls and outgoing calls. In
particular,
calls originating from the outside are placed to a phone number dedicated to
the wireless
communications system. Depending on the customer's system, the number might be
a PBX
extension, or a directly dialed number. The wireless communications system
number will
typically be set up as part of a hunt group, allowing a single phone number or
extension to
support multiple lines. The incoming call is greeted with a voice dialog in
which the caller is
asked to say the name, or alternatively, to enter an extension number, of the
user to whom the
call is to be routed. The call is then handled much in the same manner as
would be the case were
the call placed from a badge. Note, however, that the initial interaction
needs to be more
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regimented, because the caller cannot be assumed to be a user of the system.
In particular, the
caller is limited to contacting another user.
It may be useful to provide a special pass code that the caller could enter
(via the
telephone keypad) to reach the usual Genie. He would first be asked to speak
his own name;
assuming it was recognized, he would then hear the Genie prompt as if he had
hailed the Genie
from his badge. If Caller ID identified the source number as the cell phone
number of the user,
for example, the pass code and initial dialog could be bypassed altogether.
This would enable a
user to reach the Genie with a single press of a speed-dial button on his cell
phone. From the
point of view of the user receiving the call, it is very much as if the call
originated from another
badge. In particular, all of the following features are supported, in all of
variations that are
normally available:
Call Forwarding
Leaving a Message
Call Transfer
Call Waiting
Conferencing
Hold
Conferencing Additional Parties
Caller ID (when available)
For an outgoing telephone call from the wireless communications system, calls
can be
placed through the public phone system using the "Dial" voice command. For
example, Mary
might hail the Genie and say, "Dial area code six-five-oh eight-five-one-two-
two-three-four". If
an outsider has been set up as a buddy, a buddy name could be provided to the
"Call" command,
as in, "Call Mom". Supported features include most of those available when
calling another
badge:
Call Transfer
Call Waiting
Conferencing
Hold
Conferencing Additional Parties
In some customer environments, it is desirable to restrict placement of
outgoing calls to
certain privileged users, such as managers. Selective enabling of outside
calling is available from
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the User Administration page of the administration application. Now, the
display unit on the
badge will be described in more detail.
The LCD display on the back of the badge (or the display on the access device
that
executes the badge application) displays incoming call information, messages,
and status
information of various kinds. The display is manipulated through a menu system
controlled by
the group of three pushbuttons at one edge of the badge. These will be
referred to as the up
button (topmost), the down button (lowermost), and select button (middle). The
function of the
outer two is context dependent. When a conversation is in progress, they
control speaker
volume; when menus are active, they provide scroll up and scroll down
functions. The middle
button is used to make menu selections from the display. Through the menu
system, a user can
set the speaker volume level, peruse text messages, power the badge off, and
examine various
attributes of the badge, such as its ID number. The functions of the display
and the associated
controls depends on which mode the badge is in at the time as will now be
described in more
detail.
Powered Off
In this mode, the unit is completely inactive, and the display is blank.
Pressing the
activate button at this point brings the badge back to life, displays a
welcome message, "Hello,
Dave", and enters Standby Mode. The unit can be restored to the Power Off mode
via a menu
selection.
Standby Mode
The Standby mode is one in which the unit is powered on, but no conversation
is active,
and in which the user is not currently interacting with the menus. The display
shows the Home
screen, which exhibits the name of the user to whom the badge is currently
assigned. Status
icons at the top of the screen show battery level, signal strength (if
currently within the network
neighborhood), and an indication of the presence of new (i.e., unread)
messages. The user can
transition to Active mode by pressing the activate button to hail the Genie
(if currently within the
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network neighborhood). Similarly, a transition is made to Active mode in the
event of an
incoming call. Pressing any of the select, up or down buttons effects a
transition to Menu mode.
Activated Mode
In this mode, a conversation is taking place either with the Genie or with
other parties.
The display continues to show the Home screen, and the screen flashes the name
of the calling
party (or "Vocera", if speaking to the Genie). Pressing the up or down buttons
in this mode
adjusts the volume level correspondingly. The display shows a graphic
indicating the new level
momentarily. Pressing the select button in this mode effects a transition to
menu mode, thus
allowing interaction with the menus (to peruse a message, for example) while a
conversation is in
progress. When the conversation ends (because, for example, the user presses
the activate
button), the badge reverts to Standby mode.
Menu Mode
In this mode, the user can interact with the LCD display for various purposes.
The menu
mode is entered by pressing either the up or the down button when in the
Standby mode. The
mode is not available while a call is in progress; instead, pressing the up or
down buttons while
in Active mode directly controls volume. Once in Menu mode, the various menu
functions can
be navigated and selected by means of the up, down, and select buttons. The
mode can end in a
number of ways. First, a press-and-hold of the select button will always
return the badge to
Standby. Menu mode may also end as a result of the initiation of a call (by
pressing the activate
button) or in the event of an incoming call. The badge may also return to
Standby by virtue of
certain menu selections. For example, if the select button is pressed while
looking at the Info
screen, it is assumed that the user is done examining that screen and the
badge returns to
Standby. Now, an example of a preferred menu organization in accordance with
the invention
will be described.
Figure 11 illustrates an example of a preferred menu organization for the
badge in
accordance with the invention. In particular, the menu may include a home
screen 300, a
messages screen 302, a volume screen 304, a power off screen 306 and an info
screen 308 as
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shown. The menu functions are accessed from a set of four selection screens,
each of which has
a text label and an icon suggesting the function that appear on the display.
Initially, the user is
presented with the home screen 300 and a user can navigate through these
selection screens by
pressing the up and down buttons on the badge. In a preferred embodiment, the
visual effect is
that of rotating through them as if they were arranged on a wheel. By
navigating past the last
screen in the rotation, one comes back to the Home screen as shown in Figure
11. If one uses,
say, the down button rather than the up button, the screens are traversed in
the reverse order.
Once the selection screen of interest is in view, the user pushes the select
button to make the
choice. What happens next depends on the selected function.
The message screen 302 may be selected and a scrolled list of subject lines
are displayed
to the user (shown as the message list 310 which displays each message text
312 as shown).
Each line displays the subject of a message, preceded by an icon indicating
whether the message
is new (i.e., unread). If the subject is too long to fit on the line, it is
simply truncated. The user
navigates the list of subjects using the up and down buttons (causing each
line to be highlighted
in reverse video in a preferred embodiment), and selects a message to be
displayed with the
select button. The displayed message is headed by a Date line, a From line,
and a Subject line.
The Date line gives the date and time the message was received; the From line
gives return
address of the message, if known. The Subject line gives the full text of the
subject. The
message body itself then follows the header as is well known. The user can
scroll though the
displayed message using the up and down buttons. Note that the header lines
are part of the
scrolled text, and so may be word-wrapped if long enough to exceed the number
of characters
(approximately 14) that may be shown on a single line. When the user has
finished examining
the message, he can press the select button to return to the subject list, and
choose another
message to read. Alternatively, he can press and hold the button to return to
Standby mode.
If the user presses the select button while viewing a message, a pop-up menu
is displayed
showing the following options:
Delete - This selection brings up a confirmation submenu prompting the user to
confirm
the deletion ("Delete" or "Cancel"). If confirmed, the message is deleted and
the message list is
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redisplayed. Note that if a user has elected the "Save Messages" option in the
User Console, the
message will be "beamed up" to the server and archived whether it is deleted
or not.
Reply- This selection brings up a submenu allowing the user to reply to the
message with
one of the Predefined Text Messages configured in the User Console. The
submenu has an item
for each such message; depending on the length of the message, it may show
only the first several
characters. Selecting one of the items brings up a confirmation submenu
("Send" or "Cancel").
Selecting either of these displays a confirm message momentarily, then returns
to the Message
List.
Save- This selection archives the message so that it will not be automatically
deleted.
Cancel - Returns to the Main Menu.
Exit - Exits the menu system altogether.
The volume screen 304 may be selected and displays a screen with a graphic
representation of the current speaker volume level in a volume control page
314. By pressing the
up and down buttons, the user can adjust the volume wherein each button press
plays a tone to
provide audible feedback to the user of the currently set volume level. The
press of the select
button finalizes the interaction, and the badge is brought back to Standby
mode. The volume
setting is retained in flash memory so that it is retained even when power is
not being supplied to
the badge.
The power off screen 306 blanks the display, and places the badge in a low
power state.
The badge can subsequently be turned back on simply by pressing the activate
button. The
powering down of the badge does not cause the loss of any settings or messages
(since these are
stored in a non-volatile memory) that may be stored in the badge. The info
screen 308 may be
selected and displays a info screen 316 to the user showing various
information about the badge.
Among the items shown are:
Badge IP Address
MAC address of the badge
Firmware version no.
Name of the network (Service Set ID)
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Current Location (AP location name and MAC Address)
Radio Signal Quality
Name of Logged in User
Server IP Address
Each of the items of information is displayed full screen; the up and down
buttons move
among the various items.
Figure 12 is a the menu state transition table 320 which details transitions
among the
various menu states. A column 322 at the left lists the various screens. The
entries 324 to the
right of each screen name give the screen transitioned to or action taken as a
result of pushing the
various buttons represented across the top of the table (including the Up
button, the Down
button, the Select button and the Select and Hold action). For example,
starting from the Home
screen, one arrives at the Info selection screen by pressing the down button.
Entries shown in
italics represent actions within the same screen (such as Scroll Up which
indicates that the action
is to scroll up in that screen). The select and hold action always returns the
display to the Home
screen as shown. Now, a summary of the voice commands in a preferred
embodiment of the
system will be described.
This summary is a listing of the badge voice commands, together with examples
of use.
In some cases, a command may have several syntactic variations, including
synonyms. In these
cases, a representative (but not necessarily complete) sampling of variations
is given. Generally
speaking, the number of synonyms a command has is proportional to its
frequency of use. The
Call command, for example, has several variants, as do "Yes" and "No" answers
to confirmation
dialogs. Unless otherwise noted, it can be assumed that a command that takes
the name of a user
as an argument will also work if multiple names (or group names) are provided.
= Accept - Accepts calls from one or more parties.
"Accept all calls"
"Accept all calls from Jack"
"Accept all calls except from Marketing"
"Accept calls only from Marketing"
"Accept calls from Marketing only"
"Accept calls from everyone"
"Accept calls from buddies"
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= Add to Group ¨ Dynamically adds a user to a group.
"Add me to Tech Support"
"Add me to group Tech Support"
= Assign Location ¨ Assigns the currently-associated concentrator to a
location
"Assign location 'First Floor'"
= Begin Tour ¨ Begins concentrator location tour.
"Begin Tour"
= Block - Blocks calls from one or more parties.
"Block all calls"
"Block all calls from Jack"
"Block all calls except from Marketing"
"Block calls only from Marketing"
"Block calls from Marketing only"
"Block calls from everyone"
"Block calls from buddies"
= Call ¨ Places a call to one or more parties.
"Call Mary"
"Find Mary"
"Get me Mary"
"Contact Mary"
"Call Mom"
= Cancel (Universal) ¨ Cancels current action.
"Cancel"
"Stop"
"VVait"
= Conference ¨ Conferences one or more parties.
"Conference Jack and Jill"
= Delete ¨ Deletes messages.
= Dial ¨ Dials a phone number
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"Dial four-oh-eight seven-nine-oh-forty-one-hundred"
"Dial area code four-oh-eight seven-nine-oh-forty-one-hundred"
"Dial extension three-five-four"
"Dial nine-one-one"
"Phone nine-one-one"
= End Tour ¨ Ends concentrator location tour
"End Tour"
= Erase Greeting ¨ Erases current greeting.
"Erase greeting"
"Erase my greeting"
"Delete my greeting"
= Forward ¨ Forwards unanswered calls to a user, group, voicemail or phone
"Forward calls to my desk phone"
"Forward calls to my cell phone"
"Forward calls to voicemail"
"Forward calls to my home phone"
"Forward calls to my home phone"
"Forward calls to Sandy Flores"
"Forward calls to extension 101"
= Goodbye ¨ Dismisses Genie
"Goodbye"
= Help (Universal) ¨ Offers help for the current voice command.
"Help!"
= Invite ¨ Invites a newcomer to an ongoing conversation
"Invite Joe Smith"
= Learn Name ¨ Trains the Genie on a particular name.
"Learn a Name." The Genie then responds with "Spell the last name of the
person you
would like me to learn..."
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= Locate ¨ Locates members of a group.
"Locate tech support reps in Building C"
"Locate the closest tech support agent"
= Log Off¨ Un-assigns the badge.
"Log off'
"Log me out"
= Log On ¨ Assigns the badge to a user.
"Log me in as Mary Smith"
"Log me on as Mary Smith"
= My Location Is ¨ Binds concentrator location name.
"My location is Third Floor West Wing"
= Play Greeting ¨ Plays back previously-recorded greeting
"Play greeting"
"Play my greeting"
= Play Messages ¨ Plays messages left by other users.
"Play messages"
"Play old messages"
"Play messages from John"
"Play back my old messages from John"
= Record E-Mail ¨ Sends an e-mail with a voice message to one or more
users.
"Record e-mail for the Blowtorch team"
"Send e-mail to Jack"
= Record Greeting ¨ Records greeting for a given user.
"Record greeting"
"Record my greeting"
= Record Message ¨ Broadcasts a voice message to one or more users.
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"Record a message for John"
"Send message to the John"
"Leave a message for John"
"Leave an urgent message for John"
"Message for John"
"Urgent message for John"
= Record Name ¨ Records a name prompt for a person, group or location.
"Record my name"
"Record name for John Smith"
"Record name for Tech Support"
"Record name for the First Floor"
= Remove from Group ¨ Dynamically removes a user from a group.
"Remove me from Tech Support"
"Remove me from group Tech Support"
= Stop Forwarding ¨ Ends forwarding of unanswered calls.
"Stop Forwarding"
= Transfer ¨ Transfers current call to another user or to voice mail.
"Transfer to John Smith"
"Transfer to voice mail"
= What Groups ¨ Lists groups to which member belongs
"What groups do I belong to?"
"What groups am I a member of?"
= Where Is ¨ Locates a user
"Where is Mary?"
"Find Mary"
= Who Am I ¨ Asks to which user the badge is assigned.
"Who am I?"
= Who is in group ¨ Asks to enumerate the members of a given group
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"Who is in Tech Support?"
= Where Am I ¨ Asks for the user's current location.
"Where am I?"
= Who Called ¨ Asks who called or left a message.
"Who called?"
"Who called me?"
= Who is in group? ¨ Lists the members of a group
"Who is in Marketing?"
"Who is in group Tech Support?"
= Who Is Blocked ¨ Plays back names of users who are blocked
"Who is blocked?"
While the foregoing has been with reference to a particular embodiment of the
invention,
it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes in this
embodiment may be made
without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope
of which is defined by
the appended claims.
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APPENDIX A
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Fileec:\blaw\Server\src\s' /..:11serinfo.java
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=
. package server;
import java.io.*;
-// User Configuration InformatiOn.
=
public class UserInfo
public Profile P; // User
profile.
= public Screening Sc; //
Call screeninn
g settings.
.public Options o; // User-
selectab-
le'options.
public MACAddr ma; // Assigned
MACAn
= ddress.
.public ForwardingInfo 'fi; //
ForwardingInfn
public static UserInfo uiNull = new pserInfc(); //
Initial.UserIn
= .= public UserInfo(Profile p,= Screening Sc, Options o, MACAddr.ma;
ForwardingInfo.fi)
=
this:p = P.;
this.sc Sc;
this.o = = o;
this.ma = ma;.
this.fi = 'fi;
=
public UserInfo(Profile p, Screening sc, Options'o, MACAddr ma)
=
=
this(p, sc, o, ma, new ForwardingInfo());
)
=
' // Default UserInfo.
public UserInfo(serverConfig scon)
=
(
this(new Profile(scon), new Screening(), new Options(scon), new MACAddr(), new
F-?
orwardingInfo(scon));
public UserInfo(ServerConfig scon, MACAddr ma)
= (
this(new Profile(scon), new Screening(), new Options(scon), ma, new
ForwardingIn,
fo(scon)); =
=
=
' public UserInfo(ServerConfig scon, MACAddr,ma,-String sAltSpoken)
this(new Profile(scon, sAltSpoken), new Screening(), new Options(scon), ma,
new n
ForwardingInfo(scon));
}
public UserInfo(ServerConfig scon, String sAltSpoken, String sFirst, String
sLast)
this(new Profile(scon, sAltSpoken, sFirst, sLast), new Screening(), new-
Options(n
scon), new MACAddr, new ForwardingInfo(scon));
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public UserInfo(ServerConfig scon, String sAltSpoken, String sFirst; String
sLast,
S-
tring sIdentPhrase)
this(new Profile(scon, sAltSpoken, sFirst, sLast, sIdentPhrase), new
Screening(),
, new Options(scon), new MACAddr(), new ForwardingInfo(scon));
public UserInfo(ServerConfig scon, String sEMail, MACAddr ma, String
sAltSpoken)
this(new Profile(scon, sEMail, sAltSpoken), new Screening(), new
Options(scon),
ma, new ForwardingInfo(scon));
)
public UserInfo(UserInfo ui)
= { -
ui.p.copy();
Sc =. ui.sc.copy();
ui.o.copy();
ma = ui.ma;
fi= ui.fi.copy();
)
public UserInfo() =
this(new Profile!), new Screening(), new Options(); new MACAddr(), new
Forwardin,
gInfo());
)
public UserInfo copy()
return new UserInfo(this);
)
public MACAddr getMACAddr()
return ma;
)
public ForwardingInfo getForwardingInfo()
=
return fi;
}
// Writes UserInfo to a stream.
public void write(DataOutputStream s) throws I0Exception =
p.write(s);
sc.write(s);
o.write(s);
ma.write(s);
fi.write(s);
)
// Reads UserInfo from a stream.
public static UserInfo read(DataInputStream s) throws I0Exception
UserInfo ui = new UserInfo();
ui.p = Profile.read(s);
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File, c:\b,ldw\server\src\s¨ /:.- Userinfo. java , .=.- ,
Page 3 of 15 7-31-20C'= . .õ.i:42 am
. =
ui.sc = Screening.read(S); =
.
* = ui.o . = Options.read(s);
ui.ma = MACAddr.read(s);
' ' ui.fi = ForwardingInfo.read(s); '
. . _
. . return ui;
) ' .
. . .
=
. .. public yoidmerge(UserInfo.uiOld, UserInfo. uiBase) . =
. . { .
.. . (new Merger())..mergO.this, uiOld, uiBase); =
.
// Profile info. =
.
. = .
public static class Profile
f . .
. /7 Permission Masks..
. . =
public final static int pmLocAdmin = Oxl;
// A,
' dminiStrator permissions. '
public final static int pmGroupJoin = 0x2;
// q=-=
.roup join.
=
. public final static int pmGroupManage =. 0x4; - // G-
.
roup management. .
- - . public:final static int pmCallInte-rnal. . = -0x8.;
: = // I-
. .
nternal calls.
public final static int pmCallExternal = Ox10;
/7 E,
xternal calls.
. public final static jot pmVIP = 0x20; - // V,
IP call status..
public final static int pmLocate . 0x40;
/./ P-,
ermission to locate users.
. public final static int pmLogin , . 0x80;
// P-
=
ermission to log in. -' _"-
public final static int pmDefault = OxDE; '=
// D-
efault permissions.
.
. .
= public String
sLogin - // L, .
og-in name (could be same as e-mail address).
.
:public String H P-
sPassword;
assword.
.
public String sLast;
// L,
ast name.
public String sFirst;
7/ F,
irst name.
_ public StringSet ssAltSpoken;
// A,
lternative spoken names.
public String sIdentPhrase; =
/7 1.-.
dent ifying phrase.
= . . public String
sEMail; /-7 E, .
-Mail address.
' . public String sWorkPhone; =
// w- -
ork phone no (or extension).
. sCellPhone;
public String =
ell phone no.
sHomePhone;
public String -
// H-,
ome phone no. iPermissions;
.
public int
// P-
eemission bit vector, sPIN;
public String . .,
// P--
in code for outside calls.. sOwner;
.
- public String '
// 0,
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.Page 4 of 15 am
wing user for a personal contact.
=
public Profile() =
sLogin =n÷. = =
sPassword
=
sLast =Oft.
sFirst .
ssAltSpoken = .new StringSet(); =
sIdentPhrape = 0..
sEMail = . ""; =
sWorkPhone _ . = H. = =
sCellPhone
sHomePhone
iPermissions pmDefault;
sPIN
sOwner = nu;
public Profile(int iDefaultPermissions)
this();
this.iPermissions = iDefaultPermissions;
=
.public Profile(ServerConfig scon)
this();
iPermissions = scon.getDefaultPermissions();
7/ Copy constructor_
. .
public Profile(Profile p)
sLogin = p.sLogin; =
sPassword = p.sPassword;
sLast* = p.sLast;
sFirst = p.sFirst;
ssAltSpoken = p.ssAltSpoken.copy();
.sIdentPhrase = p.sIdentPhrase;
sEMail = p.sEMail;
sWorkPhone = p.sWorkPhone;
sCellPhone = p.sCellPhone;
= sHomePhone = p.sHomePhone;
iPermissions = p.iPermissions;
sPiN = p.sPIN;
sOwner = p.sOwner;
=
public Profile(ServerConfig soon, String sAltSpoken)
this(scon);
=
if (!sAltSpoken.equals(""))
ssAltSpoken.add(sAltSpoken);
}
=
// Temporary constructor for test purposes.
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public Profile(ServerConfig scon, String sAltSpoken, String sFirst, String
sLast.,
)
{
= this(scon, sAltSpoken, sFirst, sLast, "");
) =
.public Profile(ServerConfig soon, String sAltSpoken, String sFirst, String
sLast-,
, String sIdentPhrase)
this(scon);
this.sFirst = sFirst;
this.sLast = sLast;
this.sIdentPhrase = sIdentPhrase;
sLogin = makeLogin(sFirst, sLast);
sEMail = sLogin + "@vocera.com";
if (!sAltSpoken.equals(""))
ssAltSpoken.add(sAltSpoken);
// Temporary, for dinking up a login name_
private String makeLogin(String sFirst, String sLast)
String sFirstLetter =
sFirst.eguals("") ? "" : ("" + sFirst.charAt-.
(0));
return (sFirstLetter + sLast).toLowerCase();
public Profile(ServerConfig scon, String sEmail, String sAltSpoken)
this(scon);
this.sEMail = sEmail;
if (!sAltSpoken.equals(""))
ssAltSpoken.add(sAltSpoken);
public Profile copy()
return new Profile(this);
// Returns set of spoken pronunciations.
- public StringSet getSpokenNames()
StringSet ss = new StringSet();
= String sSpokenName = getSpokenName();
if (!sSpokenName.equals(""))
ss.add(getSpokenName());
// An
dd primary spoken name.
ss.add(ssAltSpoken);
if (sIdentPhrase.length() > 0)
ss_add(sIdentPhrase);
.return ss;
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1
// Returns primary spoken name.
public String getSpokenName()
if (sFirst.equals(""))
return sLast.toLowerCase();
if (sLast.equals(""))
return sFirst.toLowerCase();
return sFirst.toLowerCase() + " " + sLast.toLowercase();
// Returns set of allowed spellings:
public StringSet getSpelledNames()
StringSet ss = new StringSet();
if (sLast.length() > 0)
ss.add(sLast);
return ss;
=
// Returns true if has permissions given by iMask.
public boolean hasPermissions(int iMask)
return (iMask & iPermissions) == iMask;
// Enables or disables permissions associated with given mask;
public void setPermissions(int.iMask, boolean bEnable)
if (bEnable)
. iPermissions I= iMask;
else
iPermissions &= -iMask;
=
// Returns true for a personal contact.
public boolean isPersonal.()
return sOwner.length() > 0; =
// Writes profile out to a streasm.
=
. public void write(DataOutputStream s) -throws I0Exception
s.writeUTF(sLogin);.
. s.writeUTF(sPassword);
s.writeUTF(sLast);
=
s.writeUTF(sFirst);
ssAltSpoken.write(s);
s.writeUTF(sIdentPhrase);
s.writeUTF(sEMail);
s.writeUTF(sWorkPhone);
=
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s.writeUTF(sCellPhone);
.s.writeUTF(sHomePhone); =
s.writeInt(iPermissions);
s.writeUTF(sPIN);
s.writeUTF(sOwner);.
. public static Profile read(DataInputStream s) throws I0Exception
1
=Profile p = new Profile();
p.sLogin = s.readUTF();
p.sPassword = s.readUTF();
. p.sLast = s:readUTF{); .
=
p.sFirst = s.readUTF();
p.ssAltSpoken StringSet.read(s);
p.sIdentPhrase s.readUTF();
p.sEMail = s.readUTF();
p.sWorkPhone = s_readUTF();
= .
p.sCellPhone s.readUTF();
p.sHomePhone s.readUTF();
p.iPermissions = s.readInt();
p.sPIN s.readUTF();
0.sOwner s.readUTF();
return p;
// Screening information:
public static class Screening
// Cali Screening SetLing5,
public final static int cscBlockAll = 0;
public final static int cscAllowAll = 1;
public int iCallScreening;
// Currently-selected setting. =
public BuddySet bsBuddies;
// Set of buddies.
public StringSet ssExceptions;
public Screening(int iCallScreening, BuddySet bsBuddies, StringSet
ssExceptions)
this. iCallScreening = iCallScreening;
this.bsBuddies = bsBuddies;
this.ssExceptions = ssExceptions;
1
=
public Screening(Screening sc)
=
=
iCallScreening = sc.iCallScreening;
bsBuddies = sc.bsBuddies.copy();
ssExceptions = sc.ssExceptions.copy();
public Screening()
=
this(cscAllowAll, new BuddySet(), new StringSet());
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1
=
public Screening copy()
return new Screening(this);
1
// Returns true if sUserName is the user name of a buddy, either directly or
as ,
a member of a group.
public boolean isBuddy(Server s, String sUserName)
return Entity.getEntities(s, bsBuddies.getNames()).expand().getNames().conta,
ins(sUserName);
=
// Returns true if sName is the entity name of a buddy, not indirectly as a
memb,
er of a group.
public boolean isImmediateBuddy(String sName)
return bsBuddies.findName(sName) != -1;
// Returns true if sName is the entity name of a screening exception, not
indire,
ctly as a member of .a group.
public boolean isImmediateException(String sName)
return ssExceptions.find(sName) != -1;
// Returns true if sUserName is the user name of a buddy with VIP status
public boolean isVIPBuddy(Server s, String sUserName)
return bsBuddies.isVIPBuddy(s, sUserName)
// Returns true if currently blocking calls from party with given name.
public boolean isBlocked(Server S. String sName)
return (iCallScreening == cscBlockAll) ^ isException(s, sName);
// Returns true if sName is an exception, either directly or as a member of an
e,
xception group.
private boolean isException(SerVer's, String sName)
return Entity.getEntities(s, ssExceptions).expand().getNames().contains(sNamn
e);
,
1
// Returns true if this is equal to given Screening.
public boolean isEqual(Screening sc)
if (iCallScreening != sc.iCallScreening)
return false;
if (lbsEuddies.getNames().isEqual(sc.bsBuddies.getNames()))
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return false;
if (!ssExceptions.isEqual(sc.ssExceptions))
return false;
return true;
// Updates Screening information according to given parameters.
public void update(boolean bBlock, boolean bOnly, boolean bExcept, boolean
bBudd,
ies, StringSet ssUsers)
{
if (bBlock)
block(bOnly, bExcept, bBuddies, ssUsers);
else
allow(bOnly, bExcept, bBuddies, ssUsers);
private void block(boolean bOnly, boolean bExcept, boolean bBuddies, StringSet
s,
sUsers)
if (bOnly) // Block only case.
{
setScreening(cscAllowAll);
= if (bBuddies)
= = =
addBlock(bsBuddies.getNames());
= addBlock(ssUsers);
=
=
else'
if (bExcept) /1 Block all except
case.
setScreening(cscBlockAll);
addAllow(ssUsers);
}
else
if (!bBuddies && ssUsers.size() == 0)
setScreening(cscBlockAll);
else
{
=
if (bBuddies)
addBlock(bsBuddies.getNames());
=
addBlock(ssUsers);
private void allow(boolean bOnly, boolean bExcept, boolean bBuddies, StringSet
s,
sUsers)
{
if (bOnly)
block(false, true, bBuddies, ssUsers);
else
if (bExcept)
block(true, false, bBuddies, ssUsers);
else
if (!bBuddies && ssUsers.size() == 0)
setScreening(cscAllowAll);
else
{
if (bBuddies)
addAllow(bsBuddies.getNames().);
addAllow(ssUsers);
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private void =setScreening(int iCallScreening)
=
this.iCallScreening = iCallScreening;
ssExceptions.empty();.
=
)
// Incrementally blocks ssUsers.
private void addBlock(StringSet ssUsers)
switch (iCallScreening)
= {
case cscBlockAll:
SsExceptions.remove(ssUsers);
- -
break;
=
case cscAllowAll:
=
ssExceptions.add(ssUsers);
break;
=
default:
=
Debug.fail();
=
)
=
// Incrementally allows ssUsers.
private void addAllow(StringSet ssUsers) =
switch (iCallScreening)
=
case cscBlockAll.
ssExceptions.add(ssUsers);
break;
=
case CscAllowAll:
ssExceptions.reMove(ssUsers);
break;
= = =
default:
Debug.fail();
)
=
public void write(DataOutputStream s) throws I0Exception
s.writeInt(iCallScreening);
" bsBuddies.write(s);
ssExceptions.write(s);
=
. .
public static Screening read(DataInputStream s) throws I0Exception
Screening Sc = new Screening();
sc.iCallScreening = s.readInt(); =
sc.bsBuddies = BuddySet.read(s);
=
sc.ssExceptions = StringSet.read(s);
=
return SC;
=
)
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Page.11 of 15 7-31-20L. :-.249:42 am. .
// User-selectable options. .
public static class Options
// Boolean options bitmasks.
// NOTE: Do not change these without changing boDefault in b\se.h.
public final static int boNone = Ox0;
/j None.
public final static int boVerbalCallAnnouncement Oxl;
=
// True if caller's name is to be spoken.
public final static int boVerbalGenieGreeting = 0x2;
// True if genie is announced verbally.
public final static int boTonalGenieGreeting = 0x4;
// True if genie is announced by a tone.
public final static int boAutoAnswer = 0x8;
// Auto-answer option.
public final static int boAutoWhoCalled = Ox10;
// Auto-who called option.
public final static int boOut0fRangeAlert = 0x20;
// Audible alert on out-of-range.
public final static int boLowBatteryAlert .= 0x40;
// Audible alert on battery low.
=
public final static int boAutoLogOut = Ox80;
7/ Clears badge assignment upon on charger detect.
public final static int boTour = Ox100;
7/ True if currently in access point tour mode.
public final static jot boLostBadgeFinder = 0x200;
// True if currently in "lost badge finder" mode.
public final static int boVMessageAlert = 0x400;
// Audible alert on r,t message waiting.
public final static int boTMessageAlert 0x800;
= // Audible alert on voice message waiting.
public final static int boDisableAlertsInDND = Ox1000;
// True if should disable alerts when in DND mode.
=
// NOTE: Do not change this without changing boDefault in b\se.h.
public .final static int boDefault = OxC5F; =
// Everything but AutoLogout/Tour/Badgefinder/Out0fRange/DisAlertsDND
public final static String sDefaultRingTone - "Ring-Tone-1";
public final static String sDefaultPersona . "Jean";
public int iOptions;
// Boolean options bit vector.
public String = sRingTone;
// Ring tone choice.
public String = sGeniePersona;
/7 Genie personality options.
=
public Options(int iOptions, String sRingTone, String sGeniePersona)
{
this.i0ptions = iOptions;
= . this.sRingTone sRingTone;
this.sGeniePersona = sGeniePersona;
=
public Options()
this(0, "", "");
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1
public Options (Options o)
.iOptions = o.i0ptions;
sRingTone = o.sRingTone;
=
sGeniePersona = o.sGeniePersona;
)
=
// Default options constructor.
public Options(ServerConfig scan)
iOptions = scon.getDefaultOptions();
sRingTone = scon.getDefaultRingTone();
sGeniePersona = scon.getDefaultPersona();
)
public Options copy()
return new Options(this);
. )
// Returns true if all options in iMask are set.
public boolean hasOptions(int iMask)
return (iOptions & iMask) == iMask;
)
// Sets/Resets given options.
public void setOptions(int iMask, boolean bSet)
if (bSet)
iOptions I= iMask;
else =
-iOptions &= -iMask;
=
}
// Writes options out to a stream.
public void write(DataOutputStream s) throws I0Exception
s.writeInt(iOptions);
s.writeUTF(sRingTone);
s.writeUTF(sGeniePersona);
1
= public static Options read(DataInputStream s) throws I0Exception
(
=
Options o = new Options();
o.i0ptions = s.readint(Y;
0.sRingTone = s.readUTF();
= o.sGeniePersona = s.readUTF();
return o;
)
. . )
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public static class ForwardingInfo
=
public final static int foNone = 0;
// No forwarding.
public final static int foDeskPhdrie = I;
// Forward to desk phone.
public final static int foCellPhone = 2;
// Forward to cell phone.
public final static int foHomePhone = 3;
=
// Forward to home phone. =
public final static int foVoiceMail = 4;
// Forward to voice mail.
public, final static int foOtherPhone - 5;
// Forward to other phone number.
public final static int foBadge 7 6;
// Forward to another badge.
// when to forward, option. = =
= "
public final static int fwNever = Ox0;
// Applies only if foNone selected.
public final static int fwOffline = Oxl;
// Forward if user is not logged in or not on network.
public final static int fwBusy 0x2;
// Forward if user is currently busy with. another call. =
public final static int fwRefused = 0x4;
// Forward if call is blocked or refused.
public final static int fwAlways = 0x8;
// Always forward, even if user is available.
public final static int fwDefault[l =
fwNever,
fwOffline, =
fwOffline,
fwOffline,
fwOffline I fwBusy I fwRefused,
fwOffline,
. .fwOffline I fwBusy I fwRefused
).;
public int iForwarding;
// One of forwarding types above.
public String sForwardingNo;
// Forwarding phone no for foPhone.
public String sForwardingName;
= // Forwarding entity for foBadge.
public intE] iForwardWhen;
// When to forward for each option.
public ForwardingInfo()
this(foNone, "", fl', fwDefault);
}
public ForwardingInfo(int iForwarding, String sForwardingNo, String
sForwardingN,
ame, int[) iForwardWhen)
{
this.iForwarding = iForwarding;
this. sForwardingNo = sForwardingNo;
this.sForwardingName = sFotwardingName;
this.iForwardWhen = iForwardWhen;
=
=
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=
// Copy constructor.
public ForwardingInfo(ForwardingInfo fi)
= iForwarding = fi.iForwarding;
sForwardingNo = fi.sForwardingNo;
sForwardingName = fi.sForwardingName;
iForwardWhen = new int[fwDefault.length];
for (int i = 0; i < iForwardWhen.length; ++i)
iForwardWhen[i] = fi.iForwardWhen[i];
) =
// Default forwarding constructor.
public ForwardingInfo(ServerConfig scon)
=
this();
public ForwardingInfo copy()
=
=
return new ForwardingInfo(this);
}
public boolean equals(Object o)
=
return (o instanceof ForwardingInfo) && isEqual((ForwardingInfo) 0);
}
public boolean isEqual(ForwardingInfo fl)
if (iForwarding fi.iForwarding)
return false;
if (!sForwardingNo.eguals(fi_sForwardingN0))
. return false;
if (!sForwardingName.equals(fi.sForwardingName))
return false;
for (int i = 0; i < iForwardWhen.length; ++i)
if (iForwardWhen[i] != fi.iForwardWhen[i))
return false;
return true;
// Writes this to a stream.
public void write(DataOutputStream s) throws I0Exception
s.writeInt(iFprwarding);
s.writeUTF(sForwardingNo);
s.writeUTF(sForwardingName);
writeIntArray(s, iForwardWhen);
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private static void writelntArray(DataOutputStream s, into ia) throws
I0Excepti,
on
s.writeInt(ia.length);
for (int i = 0; i < ia.length; ++i)
s.writeInt(ia[i]);
// Reads in from a stream.
public static ForwardingInfo read(DataInputStream s) throws I0Exception
{
int iForwarding = s_readInt();
String sForwardingNo = s.readUTF();
String sForwardingName = s.readUTF();
int[] iForwardWhen = readIntArray(s);
return new ForwardingInfo(iForwarding, sForwardingNo, sForwardingName,
ardWhen);
private static int() readIntArray(DataInputStream s) throws I0Exception
{
. int() ía = new int(s.readInt());
for tint i = 0; i < ia.length; ++i)
ia[i] = s.readInt();
return is;
:1 Three-way merger
private static class Merger extends ThreeWayMerger
{
static String sBitVectors()
"i0ptions", "iPermissions"
);
=
public Merger()
{
super(sBitVectors);
protected boolean isAtomic(Class c)
return super_isAtomic(c) II c == ForwardingInfo.class
c == BuddySet.class-.
=
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APPENDIX B
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File.c:\bldw\server\src\ser1-1 ,SystemInfo.java
Page 1 of 10 7-31-200-* -,:52 4m
Package server; .
import java.io.*;
import util.*;
// System Configuration Information.
public class SystemInfo
. // Boolean System Option Bitmasks.
public final static int boSelfRegister = Oxl; // True
if
ser self-registration enabled.
public final static int boLogInAndOut = 0x2; //.True
if
b-
adge login and logout enabled.
public final static int boDefault = 0x2; //
Default o,
ptions_
public static SystemInfo Si;
public int iOptions; // System
op,
lions bitmask..
public String sAdminPassword; //
Administr-,
ator password.
public String sCompany; /7
Customer
company name.
public int cDaysToKeepMessages; // # of
days-,
to keep messages before deleting.
public long iTimeToSweep; 7/ Time
of d-,
ay to sweep in millisecs since midnight.
public MailInfo ml; // Mail
info-
rmation.
public TelephonyInfo ti; //
Telephony-'
information.
public UserInfo uiDefault; //
Default U-
serInfo.
public int iForcedOptions; // User
opti-
ons bitmask for options that are forced to system default.
public int . iDefaultPermissions; //
Permissio-,
ns granted to each user by default.
public int iForcedPermissions; // User
perm-
issions bitmask for permissions that are forced to system default.
.public StringSet ssPersonas; //
genie personas.
public StringSet ssRingTones; //
ring tone file names.
public boolean bForcedPersona; // True
if
ersona selection is forced to default.
public boolean bForcedRingTone; // True
if
ingtone selection is forced to default.
// Default constructor.
Public SystemInfo(ServerConfig sc)
this;
iOptions = sc.getSystemOptions();
sAdminPassword = sc.getAdminPassword();
sCompany =
cDaysToKeepMessages = sc.getDaysToKeepMessages();
iTimeToSweep = sc.getTimeToSweep();
mi = new MailInfo(sc).;
ti = new TelephonyInfo(sc);
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uiDefault . new UserInfo(sc);
= iForcedOptions = sc.getForcedOptions();
=
iDefaultPermissions = sc.getDefaultPermissions();
iForcedPermissions = sc.getForcedPermissions();
bForcedPersona = sc.isForcedPersona();
=
bForcedRingTone = sc.isForcedRingTone();
)
// Copy constructor.
= public SystemInfo(SystemInfo si)
=
iOptions = si.i0ptions;
sAdminPassword =. si.sAdMinPassword;
sCompany. = si.sCompany;
cDaysToKeepMessages = si.cDaysToKeepMessages;
iTimeToSweep = si.iTiMeToSweep;
mi = si.mi.copy();
Li = si.ti.copy();
uiDefault = si.uiDefault.copy();
iForcedOptions = si.iForcedOptions;
= iDefaultPermissions = si.iDefaultPermissions;
iForcedPermissions = 'si.iForcedPermissions;
ssPersonas = si.ssPersonas.copy();
ssRingTones = si.ssRingTones.copy();
bForcedPersona = si.bForcedPersona;
bForcedRingTone = si.bForcedRingTone;
)
private SystemInfo() =
findInstalledPersonas();
findInstalledRingTones();
// Returns initial UserInfo for creating a user.
public UserInfo getDefaultUserInfo()
return uiDefault.copy();
)
// Sets array of names of installed genie personas, which are subdirectories
of the -
prompts subdirectory.
7/ (E-g- "Corporate", "Bombshell", "Stud", "StarFleet")
private void findInstalledPersonas()
{
stringH saPersonas;
try
=
File f = new File(getVoceraHome() + "/data/prompts");
saPersonas = f.list();
catch (Exception e)
saPersonas = null;
=
Debug.assert(saPersonas != null);
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=ssPersonas = new StringSet(saPersonas);
ssPersonas.initCap();
ssPersonas.remove("Common");
=
public static String getVoceraHome()
=
(
return ServerConfig.getVoceraKome();
)-
// Sets array of names of installed ring tones.
private void findInstalledRingTones() . =
String[] saRingTones = new String[0];
class Filter implements FileFilter
public boolean accept(File f)
return f.getName().endsWith(".wav");
}
=
=
try
=
. . {
File f = new File(getRingTonesDir(11;
¨ -
, saRingTones f_list();
catch (Exception e)
Debug.fail(e);
ssRingTones = new StringSet();
for (int i = 0; i < saRingTones.length; 4+i)
ssRingTones.add(saRingTones[i].substring(0, saRingTones[i].length() - 4));
public SystemInfo copy()
return new SystemInfo(this);
// Returns directory for downloads of new firmware.
public String getDownloadDir()
return getVocerallome() + "/data/downloads";
// Returns directory for voice message storage.
public String getVMessageDir()
return getVoceraHome() + "/data/messages";
// Returns directory for user prompts.
=
public String getUserDir()
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return getVoceraHome() + "/data/user";
=
// Returns directory for location prompts.
public String getLocationDir()
return getVoceraHome() + /data/location";
)-
// Returns directory for prompts.
public String getPromptsDir(String. sSubdir)
{
return getVoceraHome() + "idata/prompts/" + sSubdir;
// Returns directory for common prompts, such as beeps.
public String getCommonPromptsDir()
return getPromptsDix("common");.
=
)
=
// Returns directory for ring tones.
=
public String getRingTonesDir()
= return getVoceraHome() + "idata/ringtones";
)
7*
// Returns directory for ,!oice enrollment: files.
public String getEnrollmentDir()
f
return getVoceraHome() + "/data/enrollment";
)
*7
// Returns set of supported personas-.
public StringSet getGeniePersonas()
return ssPersonas;
)
// Returns default genie persona.
public String getDefaultPersona()
return uiDefault.o.sGeniePerSona;
)
1/ Returns filename of persona introduction .wav file corresponding to persona
with ,
given name,
// Path of filename is relative to /sounds/ context in web server.
public String getPersonaIntroductionFileName(String sPersona)
- return getPromptFileName(sPersona, P.persona_introduction);
)
=
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// Returns filename of .wav file giving tonal greeting for persona with given
name.
// Path of filename is relative to /sounds/ context in web server_
public String getGenieEarconFileName(String sPersona) =
=
return getPromptFileName(sPersona, P.genie_earcon);
// Returns filename of .wav file giving spoken greeting for. persona with
given name.
// Path of filename is relative to /sounds/ context in web server.
public String getGenieFileName(String sPersona)
return getPromptFileName(sPersona, P.genie);
private = String getPromptFileName(String sPersona, in iPrompt)
return "/prompts/" + sPersona + "/" t Prompt.getFileName(iPrompt) + ".wav";
}
// Checks that sPersona is among available personas.
// If so, just returns it, otherwise returns default persona.
public String checkPersona(String sPersona)
if (bFotcedPersona 11 !ssPersonas.contains(sPersona))
return getDefaultPersona();
else
'return sPersona;
)
/7 Returns set of supported ringtones..
// Note: Only the root name is provided.
// Use getRingToneFilename below to get the fully-qualified file name.
public StringSet getRingTones()
return ssRingTones;
7/ Returns default ring tone_
public String getDefaultRingTone()
return uiDefault.o.sRingTone;
// Given a ring tone name, returns the corresponding filename.
// Path of filename is relative to /sounds/ context in web server.
public StringgetRingToneFileName(String sRingTone) =
return "/ringtones/" + sRingTone +
// Checks that sRingTone is among available ring tones.
// If so, just returns it, otherwise returns default ring tone.
public String checkRingTone(String sRingTone)
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=
if (bForcedRingTone 11 !ssRingTones.contains(sRingTone))
return getDefaultRingTone();
else
return sRingTone;
// Returns prompt path as a function of the given persona.
public String() getPromptPath(String sPersona) . .
String() sPromptPath; =
sPromptPath - new String(6);
sPromptPath[0] = getPromptsDir(sPersona);
sPromptPath(11 = getCommonPromptsDir();
sPromptPath[2] = getUserDir();
sPromptPath(31 = getVMessageDir();
sPromptPath(4) = getLocationDir(); =
= =
=
sPromptPath[5] = getRingTonesDir();
return sPromptPath;
// Returns default prompt path.
public String() getDefaultPromptPath()
return getPromptPath(getDefaultPersona());
// Returns true if all boolean system-wied options defined by iMask are set.
public boolean hasOptions(Int .Mask)
return (iOptions & iMask) == iMask;
1
// Sets/Resets given boolean system-wide options.
public void setOptions(int iMask, boolean bSet)
if (bSet)
iOptions Jr iMask;
else
iOptions &= -iMask;
1
// Returns effective user options obtained by combining forced values with
nominal v-
alues given by iUserOptions.
public int mergeForcedOptions(int iUserOptions)
return (iUserOptions & -iForcedOptions) I (iForcedOptions &
uiDefault.o.i0ptions-,
) ;
}
// Returns true if current default permissions setting satisfies iMask.
public boolean hasDefaultPermissions(int iMask)
return (iDefaultPermissions & iMask) == iMask;
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// Returns effective user options obtained by combining forced values with
nominal
alues given by iUserOptions.
public int mergeForcedPermissions(int iPermissions)
return (iPermissions & -iForcedPermissions) 1 (iForcedPermissions &
iDefaultPerm-,
issions);
// Sets/Resets given default permissions. . . =
public void setDefaultPermissions(int iMask, boolean bSet)
if (bSet)
iDefaultPermissions I= iMask;
else
.iDefaultPermissions &= -iMask;
// Returns array of filenames for call announcement prompts available to the
user.
// These are found in common prompts directory, nominally set to
/bldw/data/prompts/-
common. -
// For example, array may contain "/bldw/data/prompts/common/foo.wav".
public String(1 getPromptFilemames()
return WaveReader_listNonSystem(getDownloadDir() +
=
// Writes SystemInfo to a stream_
public void write(DataOutputStream s) throws I0Exception
s.writeInt(iOptions);
s.writeUTF(sAdminPassword);
s.writeUTF(sCompany);
s.writeInt(cDaysToKeepMessages);
s.writeLong(iTimeToSweeP);
mi.write(s);
ti.write(s);
uiDefault_write(s);
s.writeInt(iForcedOptions);
s.writeInt(iDefaultPermissions);
s.writeInt(iForcedPermissions);
s.writeBoolean(bForcedPersona);
s.writeBoolean(bForcedRingTone);
// Reads SystemInfo from a stream.
public Static SystemInfo read(DataInputStream s) throws I0Exception
{
SystemInfo Si = new SystemInfo();
si.i0ptions s.readInt();
si.sAdminPassword s.readUTF();
si.sCompany s.readUTF();
si.cDaysToKeepMessages = s.readInt();
-si.iTimeToSweep = s.readLOng();
si.mi MailInfo.read(s);
si.ti = TelephonyInfo.read(s);
si.uiDefault = UserInfo.read(s);
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si.iForcedOptions = s_readInt();
si.iDefaultPermissions = s.readInt();
si.iForcedPermissions = s.readInt();
si.bForcedPersona = s.readBoolean();
si.bForcedRingTone = s.readBoolean();
return Si;
// Telephony integration.
public static class TelephonyInfo
public boolean bEnabled; // True if
telep,
hony enabled.
public String sAreaCode; // Local
area co-
de.
public String sLocalAccess; // Line
access s-
equence for local calls.
public String sLongDistanceAccess; // Line
access
equence for calls in which area code must be suppliled.
public String sVoiceMailAccess; // Sequence
to g-
'
et into voice mail.
public TelephonyInfo(ServerConfig sc)
bEnabled = sc.isTelephonyEnabled();
sAreaCode = sc.getAreaCode();
sLocalAccess sc.getLOcalAccess();
sLongDistanceAccess = sc.getLongDistanceAccess();
sVoiceMailAccess = sc.getVoiceMailAccess();
}
// Copy constructor.
public TelephonyInfo(TelephonyInfo ti)
bEnabled = ti.bEnabled;
sAteaCode ti_sAreaCode;
sLocalAccess = ti.sLocalAccess;
sLongDistanceAccess = ti.sLongDistanceAccess;
sVoiceMailAccess = ti.sVoiceMailAccess;
public TelephonyInfo()
public TelephonyInfo copy()
return new TelephonyInfo(this);
public static TelephonyInfo read(DataInputStream s) throws I0Exception
TelephonyInfo ti = new Telephonylnfo();
ti.bEnabled = s.readBoolean();
ti.sAreaCode = s.readUTF();
ti.sLocalAccess = s.readUTF();
ti.sLongDistanceAccess = s.readUTF();
ti.sVoiceMailAccess = s.readUTF();
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return ti;
)
public void write(DataOutputStream s) throws I0Exception
s.writeBoolean(bEnabled);
p.writeUTF(sAreaCode);
s.writeUTF(sLocalAccess);
s.writeUTF(sLongDistanceAccess)= ;
s.WriteUTF(sVoiceMailAccess);
)
public static class MailInfo
// Mail server type.
public String sServerType; // One of
"pop3" or
"imap".
= public String . sHost; //
Mail host.
public String sUserName; // Client
username.
public String sPassword; // Client
password.
public String sSMTPHost; // SMTP mail
host.
public int iCheckIntervalMillis; // Mail
check interv-,
al in milliseconds.
public String sDefaultRecipient; // Email
address of
default mail recipient.
7/ Gets default MailInfo.
public MailInfo(ServerConfig sc)
1
sServerType = sc.getMailServerType();
sHost = sc.getMailHost();
sUserName = sc.getMailUserName();
sPassword = sc.getMailPassword();
sSMTPHost = sc.getMailSMTPHost();
iCheckIntervalMillis = sc.getMailCheckInterval();
sDefaultRecipient = sc.getMailDefaultRecipient();
)
// Copy constructor_
public MailInfo(MailInfo mi)
sServerType = mi.sServerType;
sHost = mi.sHost;
sUserName = mi.sUserName;
sPassword = mi.sPassword;
sSMTPHost = mi.sSMTPHost;
iCheckIntervalMillis = mi.iCheckIntervalMillis;
sDefaultRecipient = mi.sDefaultRecipient;
)
public MailInfo()
public MailInfo copy()
{
=
return new MailInfo(this);
}
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public static MailInfo read(DataInputStream S) throws I0Exception
=
MailInfo mi = new MailInfo();
mi.sServerType = .s.readUTF();
mi.sHost. = s.readUTF();
mi.sUserName = s.readUTF();
= mi.sPassword = s,readUTF();
mi.sSMTPHost = s.readUTF();
mi_iCheckIntervalMillis = s_readInt();
mi.sDefaultRecipient = s.readUTF();
return mi;
public void write(DataOutputStream s) throws I0Exception
s.writeUTF(sServerType);
s.writeUTF(sHost);
s.writeUTF(sUserName); .
s.writeUTF(sPassword); = -
s.writeUTF(sSMTPHost);
s.writeInt(iCheckIntervalMillis).;
s.writeUTF(sDefaultRecipient);
)
public void merge(SystemInfo siOld, SystemInfo siBase)
-(new Merger()).merge(this, siOld, siBase);
)
/i Three-way merger.
. private static class. Merger extends ThreeWayMerger
static String sBitVectors[] .
"i0ptions", "iDefaultPermissions", "iForcedPermissions", "iPermissions"
);
public Merger()
super(sBitVectors);
public boolean isAtomic(Class c)
return super.isAtomic(c) II c == UserInfo.ForwardingInfO.class II c == Buddy,
Set.class;
=
=
=
