MULTI-MODAL MESSAGING

• US 20080152095A1
• Filed: 01/02/2008
• Published: 06/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Maes, Stephane H., Sedivy, Jan, Labsky, Martin, Kleindienst, Jan
• Granted Patent: US 9,516,155 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.13
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/74 with voice recognition means
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

Systems and methods for multi-modal messaging that enable a user to compose, send and retrieve messages, such as SMS, MMS, IM or ordinary e-mail messages, for example, using one or more I/O (input/output) modalities (e.g., speech I/O and/or GUI I/O). A method for composing messages combines the advantages of a multi-modal interface (e.g., grammar-based speech and touchscreen or similar input devices) and message templates, which allows a user to construct a message with significantly less effort in a fraction of the time required by conventional methods. The user can dictate his/her messages using speech and/or GUI input, for example, based on a library of message templates which can be personalized by the user to fit his/her social interaction needs.

Claims

1. A method for authoring message templates for use with a messaging system, the method comprising the steps of:

defining a category that is associated with one or more related template messages;

defining a keyword for each template message associated with the category, wherein each keyword is a unique identifier for the associated template message;

specifying one or more properties associated with the category, said one or more properties including an identification property that is used for logically associating the category with a same category in a different language.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of specifying one or more properties comprises specifying a language property that specifies a language of subcategories and templates associated with the category.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of specifying one or more properties comprises specifying a name property which is used to represent the category visually on a display or which is used for recognizing spoken input.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of specifying one or more properties comprises specifying an icon property that specifies a name of an image file that represents the category.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of defining character data that defines a message template associated with the category.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of defining one or more fill tags that enables a user to add character data to a message template.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of defining a grammar property for a fill tag, wherein the grammar property specifies a grammar that is used to add character data to the fill tag based on spoken input.