Telephony-data application interface apparatus and method for multi-modal access to data applications
First Claim
1. A system for allowing users to browse and purchase items available via the Internet comprising:
- a telephony-Internet interface device for connecting users to the Internet, at least one of said users communicating with said telephony-Internet interface device via a graphical interface device comprising a display and a user input interface, and an audio interface device comprising at least one of an analog line, a digital line, a wireless line, and a Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) line, respectively, in one of a simultaneous and sequential manner;
a memory device corresponding to at least one online source available to said users via the Internet for storing records for said items; and
a processing device connected to said memory device and said telephony-Internet interface device for allowing said users to request selected said items using at least one of electronic queries and spoken queries generated via said graphical interface device and said audio interface device, respectively, said telephony-Internet interface device being converting said spoken queries to electronic commands for transmission to said processing device, said processing device receiving from said memory device markup language-type pages comprising data relating to selected ones of said records in response to at least one of said electronic queries and said electronic commands, said markup language-type pages comprising audio tags and non-audio tags, said telephony-Internet interface parsing said markup language-type pages to obtain at least a portion of said data therefrom using said audio tags and to generate an audio message corresponding to said at least a portion of said data for playback to said users.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A voice-optimized database system and method of audio vector valuation (AVV) provides means to search a database in response to a spoken query. Audio vectors (AVs) are assigned to phonemes in the names or phrases constituting searchable items in a voice-optimized database and in spoken queries. Multiple AVs can be stored which correspond to different pronunciations of the same searchable items to allow for less precision on the part telephone callers when stating their queries. A distance calculation is performed between the audio vectors of database items and spoken queries to produce search results. Existing databases can be enhanced with AVV. Several alternate samples of a spoken query are generated by analyzing the phonemic string of the spoken query to create similar, alternate phonemic strings. The phonemic string of the spoken query and the alternate phonemic strings are converted to text and used to search the database.
58 Citations
39 Claims
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1. A system for allowing users to browse and purchase items available via the Internet comprising:
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a telephony-Internet interface device for connecting users to the Internet, at least one of said users communicating with said telephony-Internet interface device via a graphical interface device comprising a display and a user input interface, and an audio interface device comprising at least one of an analog line, a digital line, a wireless line, and a Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) line, respectively, in one of a simultaneous and sequential manner;
a memory device corresponding to at least one online source available to said users via the Internet for storing records for said items; and
a processing device connected to said memory device and said telephony-Internet interface device for allowing said users to request selected said items using at least one of electronic queries and spoken queries generated via said graphical interface device and said audio interface device, respectively, said telephony-Internet interface device being converting said spoken queries to electronic commands for transmission to said processing device, said processing device receiving from said memory device markup language-type pages comprising data relating to selected ones of said records in response to at least one of said electronic queries and said electronic commands, said markup language-type pages comprising audio tags and non-audio tags, said telephony-Internet interface parsing said markup language-type pages to obtain at least a portion of said data therefrom using said audio tags and to generate an audio message corresponding to said at least a portion of said data for playback to said users. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An interface for connecting telephony users to access one or more online information sources using speech, text or graphics comprising:
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a telephony interface module configured for access by said users via audio interface devices;
a data presentation module connected to said telephony interface module; and
an online interface module connected to said data presentation module and configured for access by said users via graphical interface devices comprising display devices and user input interfaces;
wherein said telephony interface module performs speech recognition and conversion operations between speech and text with respect to multiple users to generate commands, said data presentation module converts said commands into at least one online communication protocol, and said online interface module connects to said online information sources and retrieve information therefrom in response to at least one of said commands and requests generated via said graphical interface devices, said data presentation module parsing markup language-type pages provided by said online information sources to extract selected information, said markup language-type pages comprising audio tags and non-audio tags, said selected information being provided to said users on said audio interface devices via audio messaging using said audio tags and to said users on said graphical interface devices via at least one of text and graphics. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. A voice-enabled electronic shopping cart system for allowing users to browse and purchase items available via online shops on the Internet using spoken queries and electronic queries comprising:
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a voice-enabled electronic shopping cart;
wherein at least one of said online shops comprises at least one memory device for storing records for said items available via said online shop and a processing device, said processing device being connected to said memory device and said voice-enabled electronic shopping cart, said processing device being operable to retrieve selected ones of said records from said memory device in response to said spoken queries and said electronic queries and to generate and transmit markup language-type pages to said users comprising data relating to said selected ones of said records and being formatted to allow generation of audio messages for said user corresponding to said data. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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19. A method of allowing a user to interact with data applications using spoken queries comprising the steps of:
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receiving a spoken query from said user;
converting said spoken query to text;
generating an electronic request using at least one electronic command comprising said text;
providing said electronic request to a processing device connected to said at least one of said data applications, said processing device being operable to search a memory device associated with said data application in response to said electronic request to locate selected information available via said data application, said processing device being operable to generate search results comprising at least one markup language-type page having information relating to said selected information;
providing audio tags singly or in combination with non-audio tags in said at least one markup language-type page identifying said information;
receiving said search results;
parsing said search results to obtain a portion of said information identified by said audio tags in said at least one markup language-type page; and
generating at least one audio message to indicate said portion of said information to said user. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A telephony-data application interface device for allowing a user to interact with data applications using spoken queries comprising:
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a telephony interface module for receiving spoken queries from users;
a data presentation module connected to said telephony interface module for generating an electronic request using at least one electronic command in response to said spoken query; and
a data application interface module for connecting said data presentation module to said data applications, said electronic request being provided to a processing device connected to said at least one of said data applications that is operable to search a memory device associated with said data application in response to said electronic request to locate selected information, and to generate search results comprising at least one markup language-type page having said selected information and audio tags in combination with non-audio tags to identify said selected information;
wherein said data presentation module is configured to receive said search results, to parse said search results to obtain a portion of said information identified by said audio tags in said at least one markup language-type page, and to generate at least one audio message to indicate said portion of said information to said user. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34)
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35. A voice-enabled shopping cart for allowing a user to interact with data applications using spoken queries comprising:
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a transaction module for communicating with a user establishing a session with at least one of a computer and a telephone to browse at least a selected one of the data applications, the user having a telephony-Internet interface to communicate with the selected data application via telephone;
a communications module for connecting to the internet and establishing communication between the selected data application and the transaction module; and
a monitoring module for monitoring each user transaction and user selections during a browsing session and allowing a user to terminate the session prior to purchase of any user selections and call the data application at another time to purchase at least some of the user selections.
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36. A voice-enabled electronic shopping system for allowing a user to browse and purchase items available via online shops on the Internet using spoken queries comprising:
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a Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) module for communicating with a user who has accessed the internet with a telecommunications device equipped with a microphone for input of said spoken queries; and
a data presentation module coupled to the VOIP module and the internet and operable to convert said spoken queries to an electronic command for transmission to a selected online shop via the internet;
wherein the online shop stores records for said items available via the online shop in a memory device, retrieves selected ones of said records from said memory device in response to said spoken queries, and generates and transmits markup language-type pages to said data presentation module that comprise data relating to said selected ones of said records, said data presentation module parses said markup language-type pages received from the online shop to obtain at least a portion of said data therefrom and to generate an audio message corresponding to said at least a portion of said data for playback to said user via said VOIP module;
wherein the online shop also stores for each of said records at least one item phoneme vector for parsing of said memory device by the online shop in response to said spoken queries, each of said records having at least one searchable field comprising item data that is characterized by phonemes, said phonemes being assigned respective values, said phonemes having similar pronunciation being assigned similar values, each said phoneme vector comprising said values corresponding to said phonemes in said at least one searchable field; and
wherein said data presentation module converts said spoken queries received from said user to phonemes for said electronic command transmitted to the online shop, said phonemes being used to generate spoken query phoneme vectors to facilitate retrieval of said records via the online shop by comparing said spoken query phoneme vector with at least a portion of said item phoneme vector corresponding to each of said items. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39)
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Specification