Method for efficient, safe and reliable data entry by voice under adverse conditions

• US 20030033146A1
• Filed: 08/03/2001
• Published: 02/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Rigazio, Luca, Junqua, Jean-Claude, Veprek, Peter, Boman, Robert C., Morin, Philippe R.
• Granted Patent: US 6,996,528 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/251
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/065 Adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue

Abstract

A method and apparatus for data entry by voice under adverse conditions is disclosed. More specifically it provides a way for efficient and robust form filling by voice. A form can typically contain one or several fields that must be filled in. The user communicates to a speech recognition system and word spotting is performed upon the utterance. The spotted words of an utterance form a phrase that can contain field-specific values and/or commands. Recognized values are echoed back to the speaker via a text-to-speech system. Unreliable or unsafe inputs for which the confidence measure is found to be low (e.g. ill-pronounced speech or noises) are rejected by the spotter. Speaker adaptation is furthermore performed transparently to improve speech recognition accuracy. Other input modalities can be additionally supported (e.g. keyboard and touch-screen). The system maintains a dialogue history to enable editing and correction operations on all active fields.

Claims

1. A method of data entry by voice under adverse conditions for efficient and robust form filling, the method comprising:

communicating an input utterance from a speaker to a speech recognition means;

spotting a plurality of spotted words of at least one recognized spoken word within the input utterance, wherein the spotted words form a phrase containing at least one of field-specific values and commands;

echoing recognized values back to the speaker via a text-to-speech system;

rejecting unreliable or unsafe inputs for which a confidence measure is found to be low; and

maintaining a dialogue history enabling editing operations and correction operations on all active fields.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining a focus field based on word semantic.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein audio feedback is performed upon interpretation of each input utterance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein automatic adaptation is performed once a complete form has been filled and sent for search in a database.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a backup input system is accommodated for additional safety and flexibility.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein commands include at least one of a correction command for deletion of a last data entry, a deletion command for clearing of an entire output form buffer with restoration of all default values, a repeat command for echoing of at least one of the contents of an entire form and the contents of an entire form field as output speech, and a send command for flushing of an entire output form buffer to a communication module.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein field-specific values include at least one of letters and numbers for a license plate number field, numbers for a license plate year field, at least one of state names and state name abbreviations for a license plate state field, and at least one of vehicle make names and vehicle model names for a license plate vehicle type field.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein editing operations include at least one of replacement of the contents of a field with a field-specific value and concatenation with contents of a field of a field-specific value.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein correction operations include at least one of deleting a last data entry and clearing an entire output form buffer, wherein clearing of an entire output form buffer results in restoration of default values.

10. An article of manufacture for data entry by voice under adverse conditions enabling efficient and robust form filling, the article of manufacture comprising:

an operating system;

a memory in communication with said operating system;

a speech recognition means in communication with said operating system;

a speech generation means in communication with said operating system; and

a dialogue history maintenance means in communication with said operating system,

wherein said operating system manages said memory, said speech recognition means, said speech generation means, and said dialogue history maintenance means in a manner permitting the user to monitor speech recognition of an input utterance by means of a generated speech corresponding to at least one of field-specific values and commands contained within the phrase formed by spotted words within the input utterance, and to perform editing operations and correction operations on all active fields.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 10, further comprising a user interface, wherein said user interface provides a backup input system for additional safety and flexibility.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein said user interface includes at least one of a keyboard, an active display, a touch screen.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the speech generation means includes at least one of a speech synthesizer and reproduction of a previously recorded voice.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein a focus field is determined based on word semantic.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein audio feedback is performed upon interpretation of each input utterance.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein automatic adaptation is performed once a complete form has been filled and sent for search in a database.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein commands include at least one of a correction command for deletion of a last data entry, a deletion command for clearing of an entire output form buffer with restoration of all default values, a repeat command for echoing of at least one of the contents of an entire form and the contents of an entire form field as output speech, and a send command for flushing of an entire output form buffer to a communication module.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein field-specific values include at least one of letters and numbers for a license plate number field, numbers for a license plate year field, at least one of state names and state name abbreviations for a license plate state field, and at least one of vehicle make names and vehicle model names for a license plate vehicle type field.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein editing operations include at least one of replacement of the contents of a field with a field-specific value and concatenation with contents of a field of a field-specific value.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein correction operations include at least one of deleting a last data entry and clearing an entire output form buffer, wherein clearing of an entire output form buffer results in restoration of default values.