Word-Level Correction of Speech Input

• US 20110166851A1
• Filed: 10/27/2010
• Published: 07/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Byrne, William J., LeBeau, Michael J., Kristjansson, Trausti, Ballinger, Brandon M., Jitkoff, John Nicholas
• Granted Patent: US 8,494,852 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/137 Hierarchical processing, e.g. outlines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/232 Orthographic correction, e.g. spell checking or vowelisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/284 Lexical analysis, e.g. tokenisation or collocates
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/01 Assessment or evaluation of speech recognition systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications

Abstract

The subject matter of this specification can be implemented in, among other things, a computer-implemented method for correcting words in transcribed text including receiving speech audio data from a microphone. The method further includes sending the speech audio data to a transcription system. The method further includes receiving a word lattice transcribed from the speech audio data by the transcription system. The method further includes presenting one or more transcribed words from the word lattice. The method further includes receiving a user selection of at least one of the presented transcribed words. The method further includes presenting one or more alternate words from the word lattice for the selected transcribed word. The method further includes receiving a user selection of at least one of the alternate words. The method further includes replacing the selected transcribed word in the presented transcribed words with the selected alternate word.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for correcting words in transcribed text, the method comprising:

receiving speech audio data from a microphone in a mobile computing device;

sending the speech audio data from the mobile computing device to a transcription system;

receiving, at the mobile computing device, a word lattice transcribed from the speech audio data by the transcription system;

presenting one or more transcribed words from the word lattice on a display screen of the mobile computing device;

receiving, at the mobile computing device, a user selection of at least one of the presented transcribed words;

in response to receiving the user selection of the transcribed word, presenting on the display screen one or more alternate words for the selected at least one word, from the word lattice;

receiving, at the mobile computing device, a user selection of at least one of the alternate words; and

in response to receiving the user selection of the at least one alternate word, replacing the selected transcribed word in the presented transcribed words with the selected alternate word.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving the user selection of the transcribed word, presenting a remove command on the display screen for the selected transcribed word;

receiving, at the mobile computing device, a user selection of the remove command; and

in response to receiving the user selection of the remove command, removing the selected transcribed word from the presented transcribed words.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

presenting at least one alternate phrase on the display screen from the word lattice for the presented transcribed words;

receiving, at the mobile computing device, a user selection of the alternate phrase; and

in response to receiving the user selection of the alternate phrase, replacing the presented transcribed words with the selected alternate phrase.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

in response to receiving the user selection of the alternate word or the remove command, automatically selecting at least one new alternate phrase from the word lattice based on the selected alternate word or the removed transcribed word; and

replacing the presented alternate phrase with the new alternate phrase.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the user selection of the presented word and the user selection of the alternate word comprise receiving the user selection of the presented word and the user selection of the alternate word through a touchscreen interface of the mobile computing device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the word lattice comprises nodes corresponding to the transcribed words and the alternate words, edges between the nodes that identify possible paths through the word lattice, and each path has an associated probability of being correct.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising identifying the alternate words for the selected transcribed word from one or more alternate paths between a beginning node and an ending node of the selected transcribed word in the word lattice.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising identifying the alternate phrase for the presented transcribed words from at least one alternate path between a beginning node and an ending node of the presented transcribed words in the word lattice.

9. A computer program product, encoded on a computer-readable medium, operable to cause one or more processors to perform operations for correcting words in transcribed text, the operations comprising:

receiving speech audio data from a microphone in a mobile computing device;

sending the speech audio data from the mobile computing device to a transcription system;

receiving, at the mobile computing device, a word lattice transcribed from the speech audio data by the transcription system;

presenting one or more transcribed words from the word lattice on a display screen of the mobile computing device;

receiving, at the mobile computing device, a user selection of at least one of the presented transcribed words;

in response to receiving the user selection of the transcribed word, presenting one or more alternate words on the display screen from the word lattice for the selected transcribed word;

receiving, at the mobile computing device, a user selection of at least one of the alternate words; and

in response to receiving the user selection of the alternate word, replacing the selected transcribed word in the presented transcribed words with the selected alternate word.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, the operations further comprising:

in response to receiving the user selection of the transcribed word, presenting a remove command on the display screen for the selected transcribed word;

receiving, at the mobile computing device, a user selection of the remove command; and

in response to receiving the user selection of the remove command, removing the selected transcribed word from the presented transcribed words.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

presenting at least one alternate phrase on the display screen from the word lattice for the presented transcribed words;

receiving, at the mobile computing device, a user selection of the alternate phrase; and

in response to receiving the user selection of the alternate phrase, replacing the presented transcribed words with the selected alternate phrase.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

in response to receiving the user selection of the alternate word or the remove command, automatically selecting at least one new alternate phrase from the word lattice based on the selected alternate word or the removed transcribed word; and

replacing the presented alternate phrase with the new alternate phrase.

13. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein receiving the user selection of the presented word and the user selection of the alternate word comprise receiving the user selection of the presented word and the user selection of the alternate word through a touchscreen interface of the mobile computing device.

14. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the word lattice comprises nodes corresponding to the transcribed words and the alternate words, edges between the nodes that identify possible paths through the word lattice, and each path has an associated probability of being correct.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, the operations further comprising identifying the alternate words for the selected transcribed word from one or more alternate paths between a beginning node and an ending node of the selected transcribed word in the word lattice.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, the operations further comprising identifying the alternate phrase for the presented transcribed words from at least one alternate path between a beginning node and an ending node of the presented transcribed words in the word lattice.

17. A computer-implemented system for correcting words in transcribed text, the system comprising:

a transcription system operable to receive speech audio data and in response transcribe the speech audio data into a word lattice; and

a mobile computing device comprising;

a microphone operable to receive speech audio and generate the speech audio data,

a network interface operable to send the speech audio data to the transcription system and in response receive the word lattice from the transcription system,

a display screen operable to present one or more transcribed words from the word lattice,

a user interface operable to receive a user selection of at least one of the transcribed words,

one or more processors and a memory storing instructions that when executed by the processors perform operations to present one or more alternate words on the display screen from the word lattice for the selected transcribed word, receive a user selection of at least one of the alternate words, and replace the selected transcribed word in the presented transcribed words with the selected alternate word.