METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COUPLING A VISUAL BROWSER TO A VOICE BROWSER

• US 20060206591A1
• Filed: 06/05/2006
• Published: 09/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: LUCAS, BRUCE D., Reich, David E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,657,828 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML

Abstract

A method and apparatus for concurrently accessing network-based electronic content in a Voice Browser and a Visual Browser can include the steps of retrieving a network-based document formatted for display in the Visual Browser; identifying in the retrieved document a reference to the Voice Browser, the reference specifying electronic content formatted for audible presentation in the Voice Browser; and, transmitting the reference to the Voice Browser. The Voice Browser can retrieve the specified electronic content and audibly present the electronic content. Concurrently, the Visual Browser can visually present the network-based document formatted for visual presentation in the Visual Browser. Likewise, the method of the invention can include the steps of retrieving a network-based document formatted for audible presentation in the Voice Browser; identifying in the retrieved document a reference to the Visual Browser, the reference specifying electronic content formatted for visual presentation in the Visual Browser; and, transmitting the reference to the Visual Browser. The Visual Browser can retrieve the specified electronic content and visually present the specified electronic content. Concurrently, the Voice Browser can audibly present the network-based document formatted for audible presentation in the Voice Browser.

Claims

1. A multi-modal browser comprising:

a Visual Browser for visually presenting visual content retrieved from a computer communications network;

a Voice Browser for audibly presenting voice content retrieved from said computer communications network; and

,

a Coupling Interface for synchronizing said visual and audible presentation of said visual and voice content in each of said respective Visual and Voice Browsers.

2. The multi-modal browser of claim 1, wherein said visual content is HTML formatted content and said voice content is VoiceXML formatted content.

3. The multi-modal browser of claim 1, further comprising:

a Time Critical Event Handler,

said Time Critical Event Handler listening for time critical content,

said Time Critical Event Handler identifying in said time critical content a content-type indicator,

said Time Critical Event Handler forwarding said time critical content to said Visual Browser if said content-type indicator indicates visual content,

said Time Critical Event Handler forwarding said time critical content to said Voice Browser if said content-type indicator indicates voice content.

4. A multi-modal browser comprising:

a Visual Browser for visually presenting visual content retrieved from a computer communications network;

a Voice Browser for audibly presenting voice content retrieved from said computer communications network; and

,

a Coupling Interface for synchronizing said visual and audible presentation of said visual and voice content in each of said respective Visual and Voice Browsers;

wherein said Coupling Interface is configured to retrieve a network-based document formatted for display in the Visual Browser, to identify in the retrieved document a reference to the Voice Browser, the reference specifying electronic content formatted for audible presentation in the Voice Browser, and, to transmit the reference to the Voice Browser;

wherein the Voice Browser is configured to retrieve the specified electronic content and audibly present the electronic content in the Voice Browser;

wherein the Visual Browser is configured to visually present the network-based document concurrently with the audible presentation, the step of concurrently presenting resulting in a multi-modal presentation of the retrieved network-based document, the multi-modal presentation having a visual modality and an audible modality, functions for the visual modality being provided by the Visual Browser and functions for the audible modality being provided by the Voice Browser.

5. The multi-modal browser of claim 4, wherein the visual content is HTML formatted content and the voice content is VoiceXML formatted content.

6. The multi-modal browser of claim 4, further comprising:

a Time Critical Event Handler,

said Time Critical Event Handler listening for time critical content,

said Time Critical Event Handler identifying in said time critical content a content-type indicator,

said Time Critical Event Handler forwarding said time critical content to said Visual Browser if said content-type indicator indicates visual content,

said Time Critical Event Handler forwarding said time critical content to said Voice Browser if said content-type indicator indicates voice content.

7. A multi-modal browser comprising.

a Visual Browser for visually presenting visual content retrieved from a computer communications network;

a Voice Browser for audibly presenting voice content retrieved from said computer communications network; and

,

a Coupling Interface for synchronizing said visual and audible presentation of said visual and voice content in each of said respective Visual and Voice Browsers retrieving a network-based document formatted for audible presentation in the Voice Browser;

wherein said Coupling Interface is configured to identify in the retrieved document a reference to the Visual Browser, the reference specifying electronic content formatted for visual presentation in the Visual Browser, and to transmitting the reference to the Visual Browser;

wherein said Visual Browser is configured to retrieve the specified electronic content and visually present the electronic content in the Visual Browser;

wherein said Voice Browser is configured to audibly present the network-based document concurrently with the visual presentation in a coordinated and complementary fashion such that functions of visual browsing provided by the Visual Browser are synchronized with functions of voice browsing provided by the Voice Browser.

8. The multi-modal browser of claim 7, wherein the visual content is HTML formatted content and the voice content is VoiceXML formatted content.

9. The multi-modal browser of claim 7, further comprising:

a Time Critical Event Handler,

said Time Critical Event Handler listening for time critical content,

said Time Critical Event Handler identifying in said time critical content a content-type indicator,

said Time Critical Event Handler forwarding said time critical content to said Visual Browser if said content-type indicator indicates visual content,

said Time Critical Event Handler forwarding said time critical content to said Voice Browser if said content-type indicator indicates voice content.