INFORMATION RETRIEVAL APPARATUS AND METHOD

• US 20070150273A1
• Filed: 12/22/2006
• Published: 06/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Aizawa, Michio, Yamamoto, Hiroki
• Application Number:
  US11/615,160
• Publication Number:
  US 20070150273A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/231
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue

Abstract

An information retrieval apparatus which retrieves a program by using speech recognition is provided. A recognition dictionary storage unit stores a recognition dictionary in which a lexicon for the speech recognition is described. A program information storage unit stores program information data. A viewing history storage unit stores a viewing history containing information of the viewed frequency of a program which a user viewed in the past. When a program which satisfies a criterion concerning the viewed frequency is extracted from the program information data, a related word of the extracted program is registered in the recognition dictionary. A speech recognition unit performs speech recognition with respect to an input speech by using the recognition dictionary in which the related word is registered. A retrieval unit retrieves a program corresponding to the result of the speech recognition from the program information data.

Claims

1. An information retrieval apparatus which retrieves a program by using speech recognition, comprising:

a recognition dictionary storage unit configured to store a recognition dictionary in which a lexicon for the speech recognition is described;

a program information storage unit configured to store program information data;

a viewing history storage unit configured to store a viewing history including information of a viewed frequency of a program which a user viewed in the past;

an extraction unit configured to extract a program which satisfies a criterion concerning the viewed frequency from the program information data;

a registration unit configured to register a related word of a program extracted by said extraction unit in the recognition dictionary;

a speech recognition unit configured to perform speech recognition with respect to an input speech by using the recognition dictionary in which the related word is registered by said registration unit; and

a retrieval unit configured to retrieve a program corresponding to the result of the speech recognition from the program information data.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the viewing history includes information of a viewed frequency for each program which the user viewed in the past.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the viewing history includes information of a viewed frequency for each time slot.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the time slot includes at least one of a time in which a program is broadcast, a day on which a program is broadcast, a station which broadcasts a program, and a category of a program.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the recognition dictionary includes a weighting coefficient corresponding to a viewed frequency for each lexicon item, and

said speech recognition unit includes a unit configured to weight a recognition score of each lexicon item with the corresponding weighting coefficient.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the related word includes at least one of an abbreviated name, byname, synonym, thesaurus item, and translated word.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the program information data comprises electronic program guide data.

8. An information retrieval method executed by an information retrieval apparatus having a recognition dictionary storage unit configured to store a recognition dictionary in which a lexicon for the speech recognition is described, a program information storage unit configured to store program information data, and a viewing history storage unit configured to store a viewing history including information of a viewed frequency of a program which a user viewed in the past, the method comprising the steps of:

extracting a program which satisfies a criterion concerning the viewed frequency from the program information data;

registering a related word of the extracted program in the recognition dictionary;

performing speech recognition with respect to an input speech by using the recognition dictionary in which the related word is registered; and

retrieving a program corresponding to the result of the speech recognition from the program information data.

9. A computer program for retrieving information using an information retrieval system having a computer executing the computer program, a recognition dictionary storage unit configured to store a recognition dictionary in which a lexicon for the speech recognition is described, a program information storage unit configured to store program information data, and a viewing history storage unit configured to store a viewing history containing information of a viewed frequency of a program which a user viewed in the past, the computer program comprising code for performing the following steps:

extracting a program which satisfies a criterion concerning the viewed frequency from the program information data;

registering a related word of the extracted program in the recognition dictionary;

performing speech recognition with respect to an input speech by using the recognition dictionary in which the related word is registered; and

retrieving a program corresponding to the result of the speech recognition from the program information data.