| 摘要 |
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFYING WORDS ENTERED ON DTMF PUSHBUTTONS The identity of a word entered on DTMF (Dual Tone Multi Frequency) pushbuttons is determined by identifying letters according to their frequency in groups of 2s and 3s and up to nletter groups. Initially, a sender will type a word on a DTMF pushbutton pad. Since each button represents three (3) possible letters, or four in the case of 7 (PQRS) and 9 (WXYZ), the system will look up the possible meanings for the word from an internal memory which includes a dictionary. If the word does not exist in the dictionary, then the system will search against a Forward and a Reverse Dictionary to guess at the identity of fragments from the beginning and ending of the word. Then it will guess the identity of each letter according to its relative frequency in groups of 3s known as Trigrams, or in groups of 2s known as Digrams. The Trigrams are preferably arranged in five (5) files to identify the first, second, third and final letters of a word as well as any non-specified middle location. The system can be extended to any letter grouping of size n where n is two or more. Once identified, the word is stored as part of a message and then transmitted as ASCII digital information over a packet data network to a remote receiver where digital to voice synthesis converts the message into audio. According to a simplified alternative embodiment, the words are guessed not letter-by-letter but word-by-word from a data bank in which words are stored according to the length, numeric equivalent and relative frequency. Other delivery methods include alphanumeric pagers, FAX, E-Mail, telex, computer printed output, telegrams and cables. |
