==.= .=.
`-11-z,t7s7:-. Technical Disclosure Bulletin
`
`Vol. 38 No. 08 August 1995
`
`Speech Recognition Methods for Controlling Cable Television
`
`Phone
`Company
`Switch
`
`Speech
`Recognition
`System
`
`Cable TV
`Signal
`Generator
`
`TV
`
`Cable
`Box
`
`3
`
`8
`
`Standard
`Coble TV
`Signal
`
`9 (
`10
`
`L.
`
`FIG. FIG. 1.
`
`Disclosed are methods for using speech recognition to select or modify images, sound, and data
`transmitted on a cable television system. A first method connects the public telephone network
`with a speech recognition system and with the cable television network. A second method uses
`the cable television network to transmit speech commands to a speech recognition system.
`r16
`
`r
`
`FIG, 2.
`
`TV
`
`Phone
`Company
`Switch
`
`I_
`
`
`20
`
`Speech
`Recognition
`System
`
`Cable TV
`System
`
`15)
`
`Phone
`Network
`
`21)
`
`Standard
`Cable TV
`Signal
`
`Fig. 1 is a diagram of a system in which the first method is applied. A user's house 1
`includes a conventional television set 2 connected to a cable television line 3. An optional cable
`box 4 may be used for this connection. A conventional telephone 5 is connected to a conven-
`tional telephone network 6. At a remote location the switching system 7 of the telephone
`company is connected to a speech recognition system 8, which is in turn connected to a cable
`television signal generator 9. A standard cable television signal, brought into the signal generator
`on cable 10, is modified within the signal generator, according to instructions from speech recog-
`nition system 8, to form the modified signal transmitted to the user on line 3.
`
`Vol. 38 No. 08 August 1995
`
`IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin
`
`285
`
`Comcast - Exhibit 1008, page 285
`
`Comcast - Exhibit 1008, page 285
`
`

`

`
`
`Speech Recognition Methods for Controlling Cable Television
`
`— Continued
`
`r
`
`
`
`1
`
`TV
`
`Cable
`Box
`
`28
`
`Speech
`Recognition
`System
`
`29
`
`)
`TV Signal
`Generator
`
`Signal
`Splitter
`
`Cable TV
`System
`
`30
`
`24
`
`FIG, 3,
`
`The user begins the process of using the system of Fig. 1 by placing a call to the cable
`television system with telephone 5. The cable system identifies the user with, for example, the
`Automatic Number Identification (ANI) protocol, or asks the user to provide his phone number
`or password by speech or by depressing a sequence of telephone buttons. The cable system them
`displays a series of prompts on the screen of television set 2, on a specific channel or overlaid on
`all channels. This process may cause the existing channel window to shrink, providing a split-
`screen mode with the prompts displayed alongside the normal picture received on the channel.
`The cable system can additionally transmit audio messages to the user through the telephone
`network. This capability is used, for example, to allow the user to listen to an alternative audio
`broadcast corresponding to the channel being viewed. Voice commands, interpreted through
`speech recognition system 8, provide for various functions, such as changing channels, identifying
`a subset of active channels through which the user may move, viewing multiple channels which
`are windowed or tiled, displaying text on the screen, selecting answers to multiple-choice
`questions, seeing scores or personal game totals displayed on the screen, or selecting movies to
`review.
`
`Within speech recognition system 8, the active words, phrases, n- grams, and grammars are
`constrained to a minimum number sufficient to support a given screen, panel, or set of prompts.
`The active context is dynamically changed by user and program input. The resulting images,
`sounds, and prompts are displayed on the screen means of techniques such as compression, indi-
`vidually addressed television sets, and signaling the cable television to change channels to a public
`or private channel or to pull selected images, text, or audio from a shared channel. Using such
`techniques, hundreds of images can be transmitted on a single channel, with a specialized tele-
`vision set or cable control unit 4 holding shared data. For example, the answer to a common
`question, such as asking what is on television tonight, is broadcast every few seconds, so that the
`cable control unit can grab the answer as it goes by. Certain audio commands instead require
`that a specific message be sent to the user's television set 2. Pointers may be used to answer
`questions destined for many users during game shows, educational programs, and action adven-
`ture shows. With this technique, thousands of users can control their own experiences with a
`small number of channels or sub-channels.
`
`Alternately, the speech recognition system 8 may be used to control a cable television
`system providing shared video and private audio, in which the video signal portion of a television
`signal, which may including moving or still images, is common to many subscribers, while the
`audio portion is unique to an individual user. Since the audio portion consumes significantly less
`
`286
`
`IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin
`
`Vol. 38 No. 08 August 1995
`
`Comcast - Exhibit 1008, page 286
`
`Comcast - Exhibit 1008, page 286
`
`

`

`Speech Recognition Methods for Controlling Cable Television — Continued
`
`bandwidth than the video portion, a large number of audio signals may be easily transmitted for
`targeting to individual users.
`
`If the cable control unit 4 has adequate memory, the screens, objects, images, and sounds
`associated with information frequently accessed by a particular user may be broadcast infrequently
`and held for subsequent access by the user. Furthermore, a control unit 4 with adequate memory
`may be used to record an entire program, providing sophisticated television recording functions
`that can be accessed remotely.
`
`Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an alternate system in which the first method is applied. A
`television set 14 is connected to a cable television system 15 through the telephone company
`switch 16. A signal splitter 17 directs the appropriate signals to television set 14 and to various
`telephones 18. The operation of this system is similar to that of the system described in reference
`to Fig. 1, with voice commands being directed through the telephone company switch 19 to a
`speech recognition system 20, which controls the signal provided from cable television system 15.
`Conventional connections are also made to other portions 21 of the telephone network.
`
`Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a system in which the second method is applied. Speech recog-
`nition is integrated into a cable television system to control the information transmitted to an
`individual user. A microphone 24 is connected to a specialized cable convertor box 25, providing
`for control of the cable television system according to voice commands given by the user. From
`the cable box 25, acoustic data from the user is sent over the cable TV network 26, having been
`decoded partially or entirely in the cable box 25 or in the cable gateway. Specifically, the user's
`voice commands are passed unaltered onto a channel or sub-channel of the cable television
`system, are compressed prior to transmission, are intermixed with transmissions from other users,
`or are labeled or partly decoded in the home before transmission. In general, voice commands are
`directed from a signal splitter 27 to a speech recognition system 28, which in turn controls a tele-
`vision signal generator 29 and a portion of cable system 30. Alternately, voice commands are
`completely decoded in the cable convertor, which then transmits only commands and requests for
`information on the cable television network.
`
`A wired or wireless telephone handset, connected to the cable box 25, is alternately used in
`place of microphone 24. A variation of cable box 25 is connected to both the cable television
`network and to a telephone network, allowing the use of conventional telephones and high-
`quality digital or spread-spectrum portable phones for both telephone applications and cable tele-
`vision applications.
`
`Vol. 38 No. 08 August 1995
`
`IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin
`
`287
`
`Comcast - Exhibit 1008, page 287
`
`Comcast - Exhibit 1008, page 287
`
`