COMPUTER GENERATED PROMPTING

• US 20080273674A1
• Filed: 07/15/2008
• Published: 11/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pickering, John Brian, Clelland, George Murdoch
• Granted Patent: US 8,064,573 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.04
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/222 Barge in, i.e. overridable guidance for interrupting prompts

Abstract

A method and apparatus for generating appropriate confirmatory prompts in a speech-enabled, interactive computer system. The method can be incorporated in an interactive voice response system that includes receiving an input audio stream over a voice channel from a users, performing keyword recognition on received input audio as subsequent input audio is being received, and prompting the user with an acknowledgement of the keyword or keywords as subsequent input audio is being received. In another aspect of the method, the volume of the speech input can be continuously monitored. In a further aspect of the method, recognition results and associated confidence values can be combined to select different confirmatory prompts, and the volume is tailored to be the same as, louder than or quieter than the volume of the speech input, so that different types of confirmation can be automatically generated to produce a natural speech-enabled interface.

Claims

1. An interactive voice response system (IVR) for providing acknowledgement prompts, the system comprising:

means for receiving an input audio stream over a voice channel from a user;

means for analyzing elements of the input audio stream by a speech recognition system for identifying a keyword and an associated confidence value;

means for determining a confidence category based on the identified confidence value;

means for selecting a suitable acknowledgement prompt associated with the determined confidence category;

means for analyzing elements of the input audio stream by a volume analyzer for determining a current volume;

means for selecting a suitable output volume for the selected acknowledgement prompt based on the determined confidence category and the current volume; and

means for outputting to the user the selected acknowledgement prompt at the selected output volume whilst continuing to receive the input audio stream.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the voice channel is a full duplex voice channel between a user telephone and an IVR whereby the acknowledgement is played out over the same full duplex voice channel as subsequent input audio is being received.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein for a high confidence value, the form of the acknowledgement is a “

place-marker”

prompt.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein for a medium confidence value, the form of the acknowledgement is an “

optional turn-take”

prompt plus the identified keyword.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein for a low confidence value, the form of the acknowledgement is a “

definite turn-take”

prompt and optionally the identified keyword.

6. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means for modifying the output volume prior to play out.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the output volume for the acknowledgement prompt is modified according to the confidence value associated with recognition.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the output volume is matched to an input volume for ambiguous recognition results.

9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the output volume is modified to be louder than an input volume for low confidence recognition results.

10. The system according to claim 7, wherein the output volume is modified to be quieter than an input volume for high confidence recognition results.

11. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program comprising computer program instructions, which when loaded into an interactive voice response system (IVR) and executed thereby, causes the IVR to carry out the steps of:

receiving an input audio stream over a voice channel from a user;

analyzing elements of the input audio stream by a speech recognition system for identifying a keyword and an associated confidence value;

determining a confidence category based on the identified confidence value;

selecting a suitable acknowledgement prompt associated with the determined confidence category;

while analyzing elements of the input audio stream by the speech recognition system, analyzing elements of the input audio stream by a volume analyzer for determining a current volume;

selecting a suitable output volume for the selected acknowledgement prompt based on the determined confidence category and the current volume; and

outputting to the user the selected acknowledgement prompt at the selected output volume whilst continuing to receive the input audio stream.

12. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the voice channel is a full duplex voice channel between a user telephone and an IVR whereby the acknowledgement is played out over the same full duplex voice channel as subsequent input audio is being received.

13. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein for a high confidence value, the form of the acknowledgement is a “

place-marker”

prompt.

14. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein for a medium confidence value, the form of the acknowledgement is an “

optional turn-take”

prompt plus the identified keyword.

15. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein for a low confidence value, the form of the acknowledgement is a “

definite turn-take”

prompt and optionally identified keyword.

16. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, further comprising playing out the acknowledgement prompt at an output volume and modifying the output volume prior to play out.

17. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 16, wherein the output volume for the acknowledgement prompt is modified according to the confidence value associated with recognition.

18. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the output volume is matched to an input volume for ambiguous recognition results.

19. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the output volume is modified to be louder than an input volume for low confidence recognition results.

20. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the output volume is modified to be quieter than an input volume for high confidence recognition results.