Configurable phone with interactive voice response engine

摘要

A land-based or mobile phone and methods are provided for receiving inbound communications as either voice or text, and then based on the user's configuration settings, the inbound communication is provided to the user as it was received or is automatically converted into a format that is desired by the user. The phone also takes voice or text that is input by the user of the phone and converts the user's input to either voice or text based on the configuration settings stored in the user's contact list or otherwise. The outbound communication is configured according to how the intended recipient wants to receive a communication based on the configuration settings stored in the user's contact list or otherwise. The phone includes a controller that determines how the phone will handle and process inbound and outbound communications. The controller includes a speech recognition engine.

主权项

1. A method for a phone operated by a user comprising:
receiving an inbound call from a caller, the inbound call being a voice call or at least one text message; retrieving configuration information associated with the caller; choosing one of plurality of configuration modes of the phone based on the configuration information, a first configuration mode including outputting the voice call, a second configuration mode including outputting the at least one text message, a third configuration mode including converting the voice call to one or more text messages and outputting the one or more text messages, and a fourth configuration mode including converting the at least one text message to a voice call and outputting the voice call; receiving a voice command from the user to change to a different one of the configuration modes of the phone during the inbound call with the caller; and changing the configuration mode of the phone based on the voice command while the inbound call is occurring.