VOICE-ENABLED DOCUMENTS FOR FACILITATING OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES

• US 20140108010A1
• Filed: 10/11/2012
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Maltseff, Paul, Byford, Roger, Logan, Jim
• Application Number:
  US13/650,034
• Publication Number:
  US 20140108010A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/235
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/06 with both visual and audible presentation of the material to be studied
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/062 Combinations of audio and printed presentations, e.g. magnetically striped cards, talking books, magnetic tapes with printed texts thereon
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/39 using speech synthesis speech synthesis per se G10L13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00

Abstract

A voice-enabled document system facilitates execution of service delivery operations by eliminating the need for manual or visual interaction during information retrieval by an operator. Access to voice-enabled documents can facilitate operations for mobile vendors, on-site or field-service repairs, medical service providers, food service providers, and the like. Service providers can access the voice-enabled documents by using a client device to retrieve the document, display it on a screen, and, via voice commands initiate playback of selected audio files containing information derived from text data objects selected from the document. Data structures that are components of a voice-enabled document include audio playback files and a logical association that links the audio playback files to user-selectable fields, and to a set of voice commands.

Claims

1. A method of producing voice-enabled documents using a processor-based mobile computing system, including at least one processor and at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, the method comprising:

acquiring a digital image of a document;

parsing digital image data associated with the digital image into segments;

decoding text-containing segments of the image data to extract a number of text data objects;

accepting input interactively from a user;

identifying at least one of the extracted text data objects as user-selectable field;

displaying the image data on a display screen and visually emphasizing the user-selectable fields; and

for each user-selectable field;

transforming the text data object of the respective user-selectable field to an audio playback file, by the at least one processor;

storing the audio playback file to the at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium;

storing at least one voice command name for the respective user-selectable field to the at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium;

logically associating the at least one voice command name for the respective user-selectable field as a trigger with the audio playback file for the respective user-selectable field, by the at least one processor.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the processor-based mobile computing system includes one or more of a smart phone, a tablet computer, or a laptop computer, and the input from a user includes a voice input.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the voice enabled document to a networked destination.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the decoding uses optical character recognition (OCR) techniques.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the logically associating the at least one voice command name for the user-selectable field includes assigning hyperlinks to the audio playback file.

6. A method of accessing information in a voice-enabled document, using a processor-based system, including at least one processor and at least one non-transitory processor-readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, the method comprising:

causing an image of at least a part of a digital image of the voice-enabled document to appear on a display screen, the voice-enabled document including a number of user-selectable fields;

receiving a voice command input by the at least one processor, the voice command input is indicative of a selection of one of the user-selectable fields; and

initiating a playback of an audio playback file logically associated with the selected user-selectable field, by the at least one processor.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising interrupting the playback of the audio playback file and receiving a new voice command indicative of a same or different user-selectable field.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising detecting a user touching the user-selectable fields on a touch screen.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising processing the voice command input using a voice command interpreter.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein users of the voice-enabled document include one or more of a vendor, a field worker, a truck driver, a health care provider of a health care service, a technician of a repair service, or a food service provider of a restaurant service.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein the initiating playback of the audio playback file includes initiating playback of an MP3 file using an MP3 player.

12. A system for producing voice-enabled documents, the system comprising:

a non-transitory processor-readable medium comprising data structures associated with voice-enabled electronic documents, wherein the data structures include;

image data representing the voice-enabled electronic document for display on an electronic display screen;

at least one voice command name associated with each of a plurality of embedded document fields; and

a logical association between each voice command name and an audio data file, such that voice recognition of a voice command name triggers an audible presentation of the logically associated audio data file;

a digital camera that captures an image of a document and stores associated image data in the non-transitory processor-readable medium;

at least one processor programmed to extract text data objects from the image, and to produce corresponding audio data files for storage in the non-transitory processor-readable medium;

a display that presents the text data objects as user-selectable fields;

a microphone, the display being responsive to voice commands received via the microphone;

at least one audio speaker that receives input from the audio player; and

a logical association generator that logically assigns one or more voice command names to each user-selectable field, and further associates the voice command names with corresponding audio data files.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the user-selectable fields are implemented as electronic hyperlinks within the voice-enabled document on the display.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor includes a parsing unit that decodes the image data into parsed segments;

and an optical character recognition (OCR) unit programmed to transform data within text-containing segments of the image into text data objects.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the text data objects are interactively selected by a user.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein the camera, processor, and display are parts of a mobile processor-based device.

17. The system of claim 12 wherein the logical association includes one or more of a mapping table, a look-up table, a linked list, and a pointer.

18. The system of claim 12 wherein the audio speakers are implemented as a device that receives input from the audio player via a wireless connection.

19. The system of claim 12 wherein selection of a hyperlink activates playback of an audio file.

20. The method of claim 12 wherein voice-enabled documents include one or more of checklist procedures or recipes.