DISTINGUISHING AMONG DIFFERENT TYPES OF ABSTRACTIONS USING VOICE COMMANDS

• US 20080015863A1
• Filed: 07/12/2006
• Published: 01/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: ALMUTAWA, MUSAED A., AGAPI, CIPRIAN, BLASS, OSCAR J., MONTEIRO, BRENNAN D., VILA, ROBERTO
• Granted Patent: US 7,747,445 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method for a voice-enabled computing environment. The method includes a step of receiving a series of voice commands related to an abstraction, wherein the voice command specifies an abstraction type. The method further includes responding to the voice command to replay the commands, executing at least one programmatic action related to the abstraction, where the programmatic action is executed demonstrating characteristics specific to the abstraction type associated with the voice command. The present method applies, but is not limited to, the execution of collections of commands that may have diverging timing characteristics.

Claims

1. A method for a voice-enabled computing environment comprising:

receiving a voice command related to an abstraction, wherein the voice command specifies an abstraction type; and

responsive to the voice command, performing at least one programmatic action related to the abstraction, wherein the programmatic action is specific to the abstraction type specified by the voice command.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the voice command is a record command for recording a new abstraction, wherein abstraction types able to be specified by the voice command comprise a script, a macro, and a collection, wherein a script is an abstraction including timing data for at least one included action, wherein a macro is an abstraction having sequentially ordered actions, and wherein a collection is an abstraction with asynchronous actions.

3. The method of claim 1, said performing step further comprising:

initializing an abstraction recordation process responsive to the voice command;

detecting a set of actions included in the abstraction;

ascertaining a user triggered event to finalize the abstraction; and

storing the abstraction for future use, wherein the abstraction is stored as the abstraction type specified by the voice command.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the user triggered event is an event triggered by a user stop recording voice command, wherein the stop recording voice command is a phrase used for a plurality of different types of abstractions to end an abstraction recording.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one action in the set of actions is a second abstraction having its own abstraction type.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the initializing and storing steps are performed by a Web service.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the initializing and storing steps are performed by software remotely located from a system which receives the voice command, which is communicatively linked to the system by a network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the abstraction type is a script, and wherein the performing step records a new script having a name specified in the voice command, said method step further comprising:

automatically determining timing data for each action in a detected set of actions for the new script; and

storing the timing data with the abstraction, wherein the set of actions are executed in accordance with the stored timing data whenever the stored abstraction is executed.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the abstraction type is a macro, and wherein the performing step records a new macro having a name specified in the voice command, said method step further comprising:

automatically determining an order for each action in a detected set of actions for the new macro; and

storing data for the order with the abstraction, wherein the set of actions are executed in accordance with the stored order data whenever the stored abstraction is executed.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the abstraction type is a collection, and wherein the performing step records a new collection having a name specified in the voice command, said method step further comprising:

automatically detecting a set of actions for the new collection, wherein the set of actions are executed asynchronously whenever the stored abstraction is executed.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of claim 1 are performed by at least one of a service agent and a computing device manipulated by the service agent, the steps being performed in response to a service request.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said steps of claim 1 are performed by at least one machine in accordance with at least one computer program having a plurality of code sections that are executable by the at least one machine.

13. A voice-enabled computing system comprising:

a disambiguation engine configured to differentiate between different types of abstractions based upon voice commands.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the different types of abstractions comprise scripts, macros, and collections, wherein a script is an abstraction including timing data, wherein a macro is an abstraction having sequentially ordered actions, and wherein a collection is an abstraction with asynchronous actions.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the disambiguation engine provides a disambiguation service for a remotely located system.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the disambiguation engine is used within a voice-only computing environment.

17. A voice command for distinguishing between different abstraction types comprising:

a voice command comprising an abstraction name and an abstraction type, wherein a voice enabled system performs a programmatic action specific to the abstraction type responsive to receiving the voice command, and wherein the abstraction type is one of a set of possible abstraction types comprising a script, a macro, and a collection, wherein a script is an abstraction including timing data for at least one included action, wherein a macro is an abstraction having sequentially ordered actions, and wherein a collection is an abstraction with asynchronous actions.

18. The voice command of claim 17, wherein the voice command is part of a record abstraction command.

19. The voice command of claim 18, wherein the command is of a format RECORD <

TYPE>

<

NAME>

.

20. The voice command of claim 18, wherein a common command ends a recording of the abstraction regardless of abstraction type.