Systems and methods for managing multiple grammars in a speech recognition system

• US 20060053016A1
• Filed: 11/04/2005
• Published: 03/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Yip, Clement Chun Pong, Falcon, Stephen Russell, Miller, David Michael, Banay, Dan
• Granted Patent: US 7,363,229 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/257
• 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

Systems and methods are described for a speech system that manages multiple grammars from one or more speech-enabled applications. The speech system includes a speech server that supports different grammars and different types of grammars by exposing several methods to the speech-enabled applications. The speech server supports static grammars that do not change and dynamic grammars that may change after a commit. The speech server provides persistence by supporting persistent grammars that enable a user to issue a command to an application even when the application is not loaded. In such a circumstance, the application is automatically launched and the command is processed. The speech server may enable or disable a grammar in order to limit confusion between grammars. Global and yielding grammars are also supported by the speech server. Global grammars are always active (e.g., “call 9-1-1”) while yielding grammars may be deactivated when an interaction whose grammar requires priority is active.

Claims

1. A method for managing multiple grammars in a speech recognition system, comprising:

receiving a speech interaction from a speech-enabled application;

identifying a speech grammar associated with the speech interaction;

processing the speech interaction according to grammar attributes contained in a grammar table associated with the identified speech grammar; and

wherein a grammar attribute included in the grammar table is a static flag that, when set, indicates that the speech grammar associated with the grammar table may not be changed after the speech grammar is committed.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the speech interaction is a first speech interaction, the speech grammar is a first speech grammar, the grammar table is a first grammar table, the speech-enabled application is a first speech recognition application, and the method further comprises:

receiving a second speech interaction from a second speech-enabled application while the first speech interaction is being processed;

identifying a second speech grammar associated with the second speech interaction; and

processing the second speech interaction according to grammar attributes contained in a second grammar table that is associated with the second speech grammar.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the processing the second speech interaction further comprises processing the second speech interaction after the first speech interaction has concluded processing if a grammar attribute in the second grammar table indicates that the second speech grammar is a yielding grammar.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a grammar attribute included in the grammar table is a grammar identifier that uniquely identifies the speech grammar associated with the grammar table.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a grammar attribute included in the grammar table is an executable command that, when executed, launches the speech recognition application associated with the grammar table.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a grammar attribute included in the grammar table is a global flag that, when set, indicates that the speech grammar associated with the grammar table is a global grammar that may only be deactivated by the speech-enabled application that submitted the speech interaction and, when not set, indicates that the speech grammar associated with the grammar table is a yielding grammar.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a grammar attribute included in the grammar table is a persistent flag that, when set, indicates that the speech grammar associated with the grammar table is a persistent grammar that is active even when the speech recognition application associated with the speech grammar is not loaded.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein a grammar attribute included in the grammar table is an active flag that, when set, indicates that the speech grammar associated with the grammar table is currently active and, when not set, indicates that the speech grammar associated with the grammar table is currently inactive.

9. A computer readable medium containing instructions that when executed by a computing device, perform actions including:

receiving a speech interaction from a speech-enabled application;

identifying a speech grammar associated with the speech interaction;

processing the speech interaction according to grammar attributes contained in a grammar table associated with the identified speech grammar; and

wherein a grammar attribute included in the grammar table is a static flag that, when set, indicates that the speech grammar associated with the grammar table may not be changed after the speech grammar is committed.

10. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 9, wherein the speech interaction is a first speech interaction, the speech grammar is a first speech grammar, the grammar table is a first grammar table, the speech-enabled application is a first speech recognition application, and the instructions further include instructions for:

receiving a second speech interaction from a second speech-enabled application while the first speech interaction is being processed;

identifying a second speech grammar associated with the second speech interaction; and

processing the second speech interaction according to grammar attributes contained in a second grammar table that is associated with the second speech grammar.

11. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the instructions for processing the second speech interaction further include instructions for processing the second speech interaction after the first speech interaction has concluded processing if a grammar attribute in the second grammar table indicates that the second speech grammar is a yielding grammar.

12. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 9, wherein a grammar attribute included in the grammar table is a grammar identifier that uniquely identifies the speech grammar associated with the grammar table.

13. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 9, wherein a grammar attribute included in the grammar table is an executable command that, when executed, launches the speech recognition application associated with the grammar table.

14. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 9, wherein a grammar attribute included in the grammar table is a global flag that, when set, indicates that the speech grammar associated with the grammar table is a global grammar that may only be deactivated by the speech-enabled application that submitted the speech interaction and, when not set, indicates that the speech grammar associated with the grammar table is a yielding grammar.

15. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 9, wherein a grammar attribute included in the grammar table is a persistent flag that, when set, indicates that the speech grammar associated with the grammar table is a persistent grammar that is active even when the speech recognition application associated with the speech grammar is not loaded.

16. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 9, wherein a grammar attribute included in the grammar table is an active flag that, when set, indicates that the speech grammar associated with the grammar table is currently active and, when not set, indicates that the speech grammar associated with the grammar table is currently inactive.