SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING USER-DIRECTED CONSTRAINTS FOR HANDWRITING RECOGNITION

• US 20010053978A1
• Filed: 01/28/1999
• Published: 12/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: LEWIS, JAMES R., SUBRAHMONIA, JAYASHREE, RATZLAFF, EUGENE H., PERRONE, MICHAEL P., PITRELLI, JOHN F.
• Granted Patent: US 6,401,067 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/40 Software arrangements specially adapted for pattern recognition, e.g. user interfaces or toolboxes therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/262 using context analysis, e.g. lexical, syntactic or semantic context

Abstract

A data recognition system and method which allows a user to select between a “default recognition” mode and a “constrained recognition” mode via a user interface. In the default recognition mode, a recognition engine utilizes predetermined default recognition parameters to decode data (e.g., handwriting and speech). In the constrained recognition mode, the user can select one or more of a plurality of recognition constraints which temporarily modify the default recognition parameters to decode uncharacteristic and/or special data. The recognition parameters associated with the selected constraint enable the recognition engine to utilize specific information to decode the special data, thereby providing increased recognition accuracy.

Claims

1. A machine recognition system, comprising:

input means for receiving input data;

user interface means for providing a user the option of selecting at least one of a plurality of recognition modes;

means for recognizing the input data in accordance with the selected recognition mode;

means for outputting recognition results.

4. The system of

claim 1

, wherein said plurality of recognition modes include a default recognition mode and a constrained recognition mode.

5. The system of

claim 4

, wherein the user interface means provides means for selecting at least one of a plurality of recognition constraints in response to the selection of the constrained recognition mode.

6. The system of

claim 1

, further comprising:

word list storage means for storing at least one word list; and

prototype storage means for storing at least one prototype, wherein said recognition means retrieves one of a word list, a prototype and a combination thereof, corresponding to the selected recognition mode for performing recognition.

7. The system of

claim 1

, further including means for selecting at least a portion of the input data for recognition.

8. The system of

claim 7

, wherein said selection means includes means for tagging the selected input data with a label corresponding to the selected recognition mode.

9. The system of

claim 8

, wherein the selection means is included within said input means.

3. The system of claim if wherein the machine recognition system is a handwritten text recognition system and the input data is handwriting data.

10. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for recognizing input data in accordance with a user-selected recognition mode, the method steps comprising:

receiving the input data;

displaying a menu having a plurality of recognition mode menu options for selection by a user; and

recognizing the input data in accordance with the recognition mode selected by the user.

2. The system of

claim 11

wherein the machine recognition system is a speech recognition system and the input data is acoustic speech utterances.

11. The program storage device of

claim 10

, wherein the machine is a speech recognition device and the input data is acoustic speech utterances.

12. The program storage device of

claim 10

, wherein the machine is a handwritten text recognition device and the input data is handwriting data.

13. The program storage device of

claim 10

, further including instructions for performing the step of retrieving one of a corresponding word list and a corresponding prototype and a combination thereof in response to the selected recognition mode, wherein recognition is performed using the retrieved word list and writer prototype.

14. The program storage device of

claim 10

, wherein the plurality of recognition modes displayed includes a default recognition mode and a constrained recognition mode.

15. The program storage device of

claim 14

, further including instructions for performing the steps of:

displaying a plurality of recognition constraints for selection by the user if the user selects the constrained recognition mode; and

modifying default recognition parameters in accordance with at least one selected recognition constraint.

16. The program storage device of

claim 15

, further including instructions for performing the steps of:

selecting at least a portion of the input data for recognition in accordance with the selected recognition mode; and

resetting the selected recognition mode after recognition of the selected portion of input data.

17. The program storage device of

claim 16

, further including instructions for performing the steps of:

causing recognition of the selected portion of input data to be deferred at a subsequent time in response to a user request;

tagging the selected portion of input data with a label corresponding to the selected recognition mode; and

performing recognition of the selected portion of input data at the subsequent time in accordance with the recognition mode corresponding to the label.

18. The program storage device of

claim 15

, further including instructions for performing the step of selecting at least a portion of the input data, wherein recognition of the selected portion of input data is performed after the step of selecting the recognition mode.

19. The program storage device of

claim 18

, further including instructions for performing the step of performing recognition of subsequently selected portions of the input data in accordance with the selected recognition mode until a new recognition mode is selected, wherein recognition of additionally selected portions of the input data is performed in accordance with the newly selected recognition mode.

20. The program storage device of

claim 18

, further including instructions for performing the steps of:

causing recognition of the selected input data to be deferred at a subsequent time in response to a user request;

tagging the selected portion of input data with a label corresponding to the selected recognition mode; and

performing recognition of the labeled portion of input data at the subsequent time in accordance with the recognition mode corresponding to the label.

21. The program device of

claim 20

, further including instructions for performing the step of tagging subsequently selected portions of input data with the previously selected recognition mode until a new recognition mode is selected, wherein additionally selected portions of the input data are tagged with a label corresponding to a newly selected recognition mode after selection of the new recognition mode.

22. A method for decoding handwriting data in a handwritten text recognition system, comprising the steps of:

receiving input handwriting data;

selecting between one of a default recognition mode and a constrained recognition mode, the constrained recognition mode having a plurality of recognition constraints associated therewith;

recognizing the input handwriting data in accordance with default recognition parameters if the default recognition mode is selected; and

selecting at least one of the plurality of recognition constraints if the constrained recognition mode is selected and recognizing the input handwriting data in accordance with recognition parameters associated with the selected recognition constraint.

23. A method for decoding speech data in a speech recognition system, comprising the steps of:

receiving input speech data and processing the input speech data in successive frames;

decoding the processed speech data using default recognition parameters and outputting the decoding results;

selecting at least a portion of the decoding results;

selecting at least one of a plurality of recognition constraints;

recognizing the processed input speech data corresponding to the selected portion of decoding results in accordance with the selected recognition constraint.