SpeechSwitch Secures Patent

By Tracey E. Schelmetic, Editorial Director, Customer Interaction Solutions

SpeechSwitch, Inc., which previous to this month was a wholly-owned subsidiary of iVoice, Inc., announced today it was awarded a patent by the U.S. government for its new technology, a "Speech-Enabled Automatic Telephone Dialer Name Dialer utilizing a Telephone Application Programming Interface (TAPI)." The patent is U.S. patent number 6,940,951 (for those of you who keep track of such things) is critical to the company's Name Dialer product and enables SpeechSwitch to integrate into various telephone PBX systems, eliminating the need for additional external hardware. According to the company, each phone system hardware provider provides a specific software driver that interfaces directly with the SpeechSwitch Name Dialer.

The Name Dialer is an automatic phone dialing system that imports the necessary contact information for dialing (names and phone numbers) from almost any PIM or contact manager, including, MS Outlook, ACT and Goldmine.

Speech dialing and speech auto-attendants (call routing) are probably most people's first (and perhaps only, to date) experience of speech technology. It's critical to large companies that see a large volume of both outbound and inbound phone calls: it allows enterprise users to access contact information quickly via voice, and it replaces operators and traditional (and hated) touch-tone IVR systems for better call routing.

SpeechSwitch CEO Bruce Knef said, "This will be our third speech recognition patent award. These patents are centrally important to SpeechSwitch, not only to preserve our technology, but also to influence knowledge in the marketplace. This patent approval marks a substantial achievement in product development for our technical staff."

Knef continued, "With the worldwide explosion in the usage of mobile phones, clients are seeking easier and more convenient ways of accessing information and conducting business. Speech-enabled solutions such as the Name Dialer help meet this demand. They enable users to stay connected to the people and information they need, when and where they need it. The Speech Enabled Auto Attendant enhanced services can also benefit telecommunications carriers by helping them provide value-added services to their customer base."

To view the full release, follow this link: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-speechswitch-receives-patent-award-tapi-interface-based-speech-/2005/aug/1175762.htm

Tracey Schelmetic is editorial director for CUSTOMER INTER@CTION Solutions. For more articles by Tracey Schelmetic, please visit:

http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100007&nm=Tracey%20E.%20Schelmetic

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