Method and arrangement for managing grammar options in a graphical callflow builder

• US 20050119892A1
• Filed: 12/02/2003
• Published: 06/02/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lewis, James R., Michelini, Vanessa V., Gomez, Felipe, Agapi, Ciprian
• Application Number:
  US10/726,102
• Publication Number:
  US 20050119892A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/270
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/183 using context dependencies, e.g. language models
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/19 Grammatical context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word sequence rules
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/193 Formal grammars, e.g. finite state automata, context free grammars or word networks
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/355 Interactive dialogue design tools, features or methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00

Abstract

A method (10) in a speech recognition application callflow can include the steps of assigning (11) an individual option and a pre-built grammar to a same prompt, treating (15) the individual option as a valid output of the pre-built grammar if the individual option is a potential valid match to a recognition phrase (12) or an annotation (13) in the pre-built grammar, and treating (14) the individual option as an independent grammar from the pre-built grammar if the individual option fails to be a potential valid match to the recognition phrase or the annotation in the pre-built grammar.

Claims

1. A method in a speech recognition application callflow, comprising the steps of:

placing a prompt into a workspace for the speech recognition application workflow; and

attaching at least one among a pre-built grammar and a user-entered individual new option to the prompt.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of attaching the pre-built grammar comprises the step of selecting the pre-built grammar from a list.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises the step of searching the list of pre-built grammars for matches to the user-entered individual new option.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein if a match exists between the pre-built grammar and the user-entered individual new option, then the user-entered individual new option points to an equivalent pre-built grammar.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein if a match exists between the pre-built grammar and the user-entered individual new option, then the user-entered individual new option forms a part of the list of pre-built grammars.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-built grammars are selected from the group comprising VoiceXML and custom-built grammars from a library.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the step of enabling a customized user selective output of the pre-built grammar.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method supports prototyping without knowledge of a grammar structure by a user.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises the step of feeding the result of the step of searching to the pre-defined grammar instead of forming an auxiliary grammar.

10. A method in a speech recognition application callflow, comprising the steps of:

assigning a individual option and a pre-built grammar to a same prompt;

treat the individual option as a valid output of the pre-built grammar if the individual option is a potential valid match to a recognition phrase or an annotation in the pre-built grammar; and

treat the individual option as an independent grammar from the pre-built grammar if the individual option fails to be a potential valid match to the recognition phrase or the annotation in the pre-built grammar.

11. A system for managing grammar options in a graphical callflow builder, comprises:

a memory; and

a processor programmed to place a prompt into a workspace for the speech recognition application workflow; and

attach at least one among a pre-built grammar and a user-entered individual new option to the prompt.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processors of attaches the pre-built grammar by selecting the pre-built grammar from a list.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is further programmed to search the list of pre-built grammars for matches to the user-entered individual new option.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein if a match exists between the pre-built grammar and the user-entered individual new option, then the user-entered individual new option points to an equivalent pre-built grammar.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein if a match exists between the pre-built grammar and the user-entered individual new option, then the user-entered individual new option forms a part of the list of pre-built grammars.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the pre-built grammars are selected from the group comprising VoiceXML and custom-built grammars from a library.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further programmed to further enable a customized user selective output of the pre-built grammar.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is further programmed to feed the result of the search to the pre-defined grammar instead of forming an auxiliary grammar.

19. A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of placing a prompt into a workspace for the speech recognition application workflow and attaching at least one among a pre-built grammar and a user-entered individual new option to the prompt.

20. The machine-readable storage of claim 19, wherein the machine-readable storage is further programmed to select the pre-built grammar from a list.