Systems and Methods for Voice Based Search

• US 20100069123A1
• Filed: 09/16/2008
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: YellowPages.com LLC (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Inventors: ARARADIAN, Araz, TANG, Benson, THAKUR, Arbind
• Granted Patent: US 8,121,586 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/74 with voice recognition means voice activated dialling H04M1/271; voice recognition algorithms G10L15/00

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided to facilitate voice-based search of information. For example, a portable device may be in a first orientation to present a display of a graphical user interface, such as a search interface presented within a web browser of the portable device. When the portable device is in a second orientation different from the first orientation, the portable device records a voice input for the graphical user interface. When the portable device is back to the first orientation, the portable device applies the voice input to the graphical user interface. When the user shakes the portable device, the portable device re-initializes the graphical user interface for a subsequent input.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a portable device, the method comprising:

detecting a first change in orientation of the portable device;

in response to the first change in orientation of the portable device, recording a voice input from the user;

detecting a second change in orientation of the portable device; and

in response to the second change in orientation of the portable device, stopping the recording.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second changes in orientation of the portable device are detected using an accelerometer integrated in the portable device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

measuring a direction of gravity relative to the portable device to determine an orientation of the portable device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

submitting a search request from the portable device to retrieve a search result in response to detecting the second change in orientation of the portable device, the search request being based on recording the voice input; and

displaying the search result on the portable device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first change in orientation of the portable device includes tilting the portable device from a first position to a second position;

and the second change in orientation of the portable device includes moving the portable device from the second position back to the first position.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein in the first position a longitudinal axis of the portable device points to a direction of gravity;

and in the second position the longitudinal axis of the portable device points to a direction perpendicular to the direction of gravity.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the portable device comprises a cellular phone having a display screen;

the first change in orientation of the portable device includes changing from a first position to view the display screen in front of a user to a second position to talk on the cellular phone; and

the second change in orientation of the portable device includes changing from the second position back to the first position.

8. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

detecting shaking of the portable device after the search result is displayed on the portable device;

in response to the detecting of the shaking of the portable device, removing a display of the search result from the portable device.

9. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

detecting shaking of the portable device after the search result is displayed on the portable device; and

in response to detecting the first change in orientation of the portable device, after the detecting of the shaking of the portable device, recording a second voice input from the user.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the shaking of the portable device comprises shaking the portable device from side to side.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

streaming the voice input from the portable device to a server over a data communication channel to formulate a search request;

prompting the user via voice for the search request; and

receiving a search result from the server for the search request.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

submitting the voice input from the portable device to a first server over a data communication channel;

receiving text recognized from the voice input from the server;

submitting a search request generated based on the text from the portable device to a second server over the data communication channel;

receiving a search result responsive to the search request from the second server; and

displaying the search result on the portable device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the search result comprises a list of businesses.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the list of businesses include telephone numbers of the businesses.

15. A machine readable medium embodying instructions, the instructions causing a portable device to perform a method, the method comprising:

detecting a first change in orientation of the portable device;

in response to the first detected change in orientation of the portable device, recording a voice input from the user;

detecting a second change in orientation of the portable device; and

in response to the second detected change in orientation of the portable device, stopping the recording.

16. A portable device, comprising:

means for detecting a first change in orientation of the portable device;

means for recording a voice input from the user in response to the first detected change in orientation of the portable device;

means for detecting a second change in orientation of the portable device; and

means for stopping the recording in response to the second detected change in orientation of the portable device.

17. A portable device, comprising:

an accelerometer;

a display screen;

a memory;

a processor coupled with the memory, the display screen, the accelerometer and the data communication interface, the processor to detect a first change in orientation of the portable device based on measurements from the accelerometer and to start recording of a voice input from the user in the memory in response to the first change, the processor to detect a second change in orientation of the portable device based on measurements from the accelerometer and to stop the recording of the voice input in response to the second change; and

a data communication interface coupled with the processor to transmit the voice input recorded in the memory.

18. The portable device of claim 17, wherein the data communication interface comprises a transceiver for a cellular communication system.

19. The portable device of claim 18, wherein the data communication interface comprises one of a wired network interface and a wireless network interface.

20. A method implemented in a cellular phone having a display screen, the method comprising:

presenting a search interface on the display screen of the cellular phone while the cellular phone is in a first orientation suitable for viewing of the search interface by a user;

starting a recorder of the cellular phone to record a voice input from the user, in response to the cellular phone being changed from the first orientation to a second orientation suitable for the user to talk on the cellular phone;

stopping the recorder of the cellular phone and submitting a search request over a data communication channel, in response to the cellular phone being changed from the second orientation back to the first orientation;

receiving a search result responsive to the search request;

displaying the search result on the display screen; and

replacing the search results with the search interface in response to the cellular phone being shaken.