A phone appliance and method of use are provided where the phone appliance can be used to make VoIP communications calls. In a preferred embodiment, the phone appliance includes an RF connection for connecting to a computer or other computing device for facilitating the placement of the VoIP communications calls. The phone appliance further includes a display or portal for depicting advertisements provided by various advertisers. The advertisements provided can be used to defray all or part of the cost associated with making VoIP communications calls. The portal can also be used to communicate with businesses for ordering products. such as ordering a pizza, and to perform various services, such as purchasing stocks. In an exemplary system, the phone appliance is used to transmit to a control center information related to the user of the phone appliance, such as interests and buying habits, and queries for receiving additional information for various advertised products and services. The control center transmits the queries to the appropriate vendors for providing the user with additional information. Other functions and features are provided to the phone appliance, such as being able to download e-mail messages stored within or received by the computer.

A computer readable medium containing instructions for controlling an electronic device causes one or more processors to perform operations including receiving an ambient signal, receiving a desired signal, combining the ambient signal with the desired signal to generate a mixed signal, and initiating control of audio content or at least one operation of the electronic device in response to at least one voice command detected in the mixed signal. In another aspect, the one more processors apply at least one among active noise reduction, echo cancellation, or signal cancellation to the ambient signal using an environmentally customized filter to provide a filtered signal and initiate control of audio content or at least one operation of an electronic device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A personal audio assistant includes a housing for an electronic device, a first microphone for capturing audio, a logic circuit communicatively coupled to the first microphone, a communication module communicatively coupled to the first microphone and a user interaction element. The interaction element, logic circuit, and communication module are configured to form a peer-to-peer network. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A personal audio assistant includes a housing for a device, a first microphone within or on the housing where the first microphone captures audio, a communication module within the housing, a logic circuit communicatively coupled to the device, and an interaction element. The interaction element and logic circuit are configured to initiate control of audio content or initiate at least an operation of the device in response to an analysis of the audio. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A call processing method and device are provided. In the call processing method, voice guidance in a call is converted into visual data; and the visual data is displayed as a visual menu to present content of the voice guidance.

A method of managing a custom configuration manifest, comprising: collecting by an application configuration selections about a user equipment (UE) that are dynamically configured to create the custom configuration manifest; processing by a server the configuration selections and dynamically configuring the configuration selections to create the manifest; transmitting by the server the manifest to both the UE and a database with a plurality of custom configuration manifests; receiving by a custom configuration manifest handling application authorization through one or more authorization options, but not authentication credentials, to allow the manifest handling application to install preferred applications on the UE; installing by the manifest handling application the preferred applications on the UE without providing the authentication credentials; and customizing by the manifest handling application the UE based on the manifest.

Methods and apparatus for customizing a telephone are disclosed in which preferred communication services are conveniently accessible to a user, in which a telephone is tailored to the specific requirements of a user.

A wearable accessory for delivery of personalized audio service includes a first microphone for capturing sound, a first speaker for playing media, a logic circuit for creating a personalized Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF) to enhance listening experience of the media, a communication module for accessing the Internet and to provide access to the media in response to capturing the sound, and a memory storage unit for storing information related to the captured sound. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Example embodiments disclosed herein relate to audio signal processing based on remote user control. A method of processing an audio signal in an audio sender device is disclosed. The method includes receiving, at a current device, a control parameter from a remote device, the control parameter being generated based on a user input of the remote device and specifying a user preference for an audio signal to be transmitted to the remote device. The method also includes processing the audio signal based on the received control parameter and transmitting the processed audio signal to the remote device. Corresponding computer program product of processing an audio signal and corresponding device are also disclosed. Corresponding method in an audio receiver device and computer program product of processing an audio signal as well as corresponding device are also disclosed.

A method for a home gateway to realize an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) service and a home gateway are provided. The method includes that: when a voice user belonging to a home gateway serves as a called user, the home gateway provides an IVR prompt to a calling user, so that the calling user makes an IVR service request according to the IVR prompt; and the home gateway receives the IVR service request, and performs an IVR service operation corresponding to the IVR service request. The present disclosure satisfies multi-level service requirements of a home user.