SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING NETWORK COORDINATED CONVERSATIONAL SERVICES

• US 20140343948A1
• Filed: 07/31/2014
• Published: 11/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Maes, Stephane H., Gopalakrishnan, Ponani S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,761,241 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/270.1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/00 Speech or voice signal processing techniques to produce another audible or non-audible signal, e.g. visual or tactile, in order to modify its quality or its intelligibility G10L19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference

Abstract

A system and method for providing automatic and coordinated sharing of conversational resources, e.g., functions and arguments, between network-connected servers and devices and their corresponding applications. In one aspect, a system for providing automatic and coordinated sharing of conversational resources includes a network having a first and second network device, the first and second network device each comprising a set of conversational resources, a dialog manager for managing a conversation and executing calls requesting a conversational service, and a communication stack for communicating messages over the network using conversational protocols, wherein the conversational protocols establish coordinated network communication between the dialog managers of the first and second network device to automatically share the set of conversational resources of the first and second network device, when necessary, to perform their respective requested conversational service.

Claims

1. A mobile device configured to communicate with at least one server over a network to facilitate allocation of conversational resources, the mobile device comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

in response to receiving a request for a conversational service, determine whether the mobile device has available resources to process the conversational service;

determine, based at least in part on results of determining whether the mobile device has the available resources to process the conversational service, whether to process the conversational service locally using the mobile device or remotely using the at least one server; and

automatically communicate with the at least one server in furtherance of processing the conversational service, when it is determined that the conversational service is to be processed using the at least one server.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine whether the conversational service is to be processed locally or remotely further based on conditions of the network.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein when it is determined that the conversational service is to be processed locally using the mobile device, the at least one processor is configured to:

process the conversational service using conversational resources at the mobile device.

4. The mobile device of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

determine, based on results of processing the conversational service using conversational resources at the mobile device, whether to process the conversational service using the at least one server.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein processing the conversational service comprises performing speech recognition on a speech waveform, and the at least one processor is configured to automatically communicate with the at least one server by:

transmitting a compressed speech waveform corresponding to the speech waveform to the at least one server.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein processing the conversational service comprises performing speech recognition on a speech waveform, and the at least one processor is configured to automatically communicate with the at least one server by:

transmitting compressed features of the speech waveform to the at least one server.

7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein processing the conversational service comprises performing text-to-speech synthesis, and the at least one processor is configured to automatically communicate with the at least one server by:

receiving, from the at least one server, a compressed speech waveform corresponding to a synthesized speech waveform synthesized using the at least one server and/or compressed features of the synthesized speech waveform.

8. A method for facilitating allocation of conversational resources among at least one server and a mobile device configured to communicate with the at least one server over a network, the method comprising:

using the mobile device to perform;

in response to receiving a request for a conversational service, determining whether the mobile device has available resources to process the conversational service;

determining, based at least in part on results of determining whether the mobile device has the available resources to process the conversational service, whether to process the conversational service locally using the mobile device or remotely using the at least one server; and

automatically communicating with the at least one server in furtherance of processing the conversational service, when it is determined that the conversational service is to be processed using the at least one server.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining whether the conversational service is to be processed locally or remotely is performed further based on conditions of the network.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein when it is determined that the conversational service is to be processed locally using the mobile device, the method further comprises:

processing the conversational service using conversational resources at the mobile device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining, based on results of processing the conversational service using conversational resources at the mobile device, whether to process the conversational service using the at least one server.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein processing the conversational service comprises performing speech recognition on a speech waveform, automatically communicating with the at least one server comprises:

transmitting a compressed speech waveform corresponding to the speech waveform to the at least one server.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein processing the conversational service comprises performing speech recognition on a speech waveform, and automatically communicating with the at least one server comprises:

transmitting compressed features of the speech waveform to the at least one server.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein processing the conversational service comprises performing text-to-speech synthesis, and automatically communicating with the at least one server comprises:

receiving, from the at least one server, a compressed speech waveform corresponding to a synthesized speech waveform synthesized using the at least one server and/or compressed features of the synthesized speech waveform.

15. At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly embodying program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method for facilitating allocation of conversational resources among at least one server and a mobile device configured to communicate with the at least one server over a network, the method comprising:

in response to receiving a request for a conversational service, determining whether the mobile device has available resources to process the conversational service;

determining, based at least in part on results of determining whether the mobile device has the available resources to process the conversational service, whether to process the conversational service locally using the mobile device or remotely using the at least one server; and

automatically communicating with the at least one server in furtherance of processing the conversational service, when it is determined that the conversational service is to be processed using the at least one server.

16. The at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein determining whether the conversational service is to be processed locally or remotely is performed further based on conditions of the network.

17. The at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein when it is determined that the conversational service is to be processed locally using the mobile device, the method further comprises:

processing the conversational service using conversational resources at the mobile device.

18. The at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

determining, based on results of processing the conversational service using conversational resources at the mobile device, whether to process the conversational service using the at least one server.

19. The at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein processing the conversational service comprises performing speech recognition on a speech waveform, automatically communicating with the at least one server comprises:

transmitting a compressed speech waveform corresponding to the speech waveform to the at least one server or compressed features of the at least one waveform to the at least one server.

20. The at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein processing the conversational service comprises performing text-to-speech synthesis, and automatically communicating with the at least one server comprises:

receiving, from the at least one server, a compressed speech waveform corresponding to a synthesized speech waveform synthesized using the at least one server and/or compressed features of the synthesized speech waveform.