System and method for determining utterance context in a multi-context speech application

• US 20020133354A1
• Filed: 08/16/2001
• Published: 09/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ross, Steven I., Armes, Robert C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,085,723 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context

Abstract

A speech center coordinates speech services for a number of speech-enabled applications performing on a computer system. The speech center includes a conversation manager that manages conversations between a user and the speech-enabled applications. The conversation manager includes a context manager that maintains a context list of speech-enabled applications that the user has accessed. If the user speaks an utterance, the context manager determines which speech-enabled application should receive a translation of the utterance from the context list, such as by determining the most recently accessed application.

Claims

1. A method for determining a speech-enabled application to receive a spoken utterance in a multi-context speech enabled environment comprising the steps of:

evaluating a plurality of contexts for speech enabled applications based upon an access characteristic;

receiving a representation of a spoken utterance; and

directing the representation of the spoken utterance to a selected speech enabled application based upon the step of evaluating the contexts.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step, prior to evaluating the contexts, of creating the contexts for the speech enabled applications in the speech enabled environment.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of identifying each context based on a persistent grammar, a foreground grammar, or a background grammar for each speech enabled application.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of evaluating contexts comprises prioritizing the contexts based on the access characteristic.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the access characteristic is based on recency of relevant access to the context.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of directing the representation of the spoken utterance to the one of the contexts comprises using a grammar to identify the selected context.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the grammar is a Backus Naur Form grammar.

8. An apparatus for determining a speech-enabled application to receive a spoken utterance in a multi-context speech enabled environment, comprising:

a context manager for evaluating a plurality of contexts for speech enabled applications based upon an access characteristic; and

a message handler for receiving a representation of a spoken utterance,

the context manager receiving the representations of the spoken utterance from the message handler and directing the representation of the spoken utterance to a selected speech enabled application based upon the evaluating of the contexts.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the context manager, prior to evaluating the contexts, creates the contexts for the speech enabled applications in the speech enabled environment.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the context manager identifies each context based on a persistent grammar, a foreground grammar, or a background grammar for each speech enabled application.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the context manager prioritizes the contexts based on the access characteristic.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the access characteristic is based on recency of relevant access to the context.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the context manager uses a grammar to identify the selected speech enabled application.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the grammar is a Backus Naur Form grammar.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the set of computer instructions comprises further instructions, prior to evaluating the contexts, to create the contexts for the speech enabled applications in the speech enabled environment.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the set of computer instructions comprises further instructions to identify each context based on a persistent grammar, a foreground grammar, or a background grammar for each speech enabled application.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the set of computer instructions comprises further instructions to prioritize the contexts based on the access characteristic.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the access characteristic is based on recency of relevant access to the context.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the set of computer instructions comprises further instructions to use a grammar to identify the selected context.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the grammar is a Backus Naur Form grammar.

15. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium for determining a speech-enabled application to receive a spoken utterance in a multi-context speech enabled environment; and

a set of computer program instructions embodied on the computer useable medium, including instructions to;

evaluate contexts for speech enabled applications based upon an access characteristic;

receive a representation of a spoken utterance; and

direct the representation of the spoken utterance to a selected speech enabled application based upon evaluating the contexts.