Automatic speech recognition (ASR) processing using confidence measures
First Claim
1. A system for adapting the user interface in systems that:
- accept speech input and perform automatic speech recognition (ASR), comprisingmeans for receiving .an utterance;
means for processing said utterance using ASR to generate an interpretation of said utterance and to determine a level of confidence in said interpretation; and
means for selectively adapting the verification of said interpretation requested from the user as a function of said confidence level,wherein said system further includesmeans for storing, for each user of said system, information representing a success measure computed as a function of previous uses of said system, andmeans for retrieving information from said storing means and for adapting said user interface as a function of the value of said success measure.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The user interface in an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system is dynamically controlled, based upon the level of confidence in the results of the ASR process. In one embodiment, the system is arranged to distinguish error prone ASR interpretations from those likely to be correct, using a degree of confidence in the output of the ASR system determined as a function of the difference between the confidence in the "first choice" selected by the ASR system and the confidence in the "second choice" selected by the ASR system. In this embodiment, the user interface is arranged so that the explicit verification steps taken by the system as a result of uncertain information is different from the action taken when the confidence is high. In addition, different treatment can be provided based upon the "consequences" of misinterpretation as well as the historical performance of the system with respect to the specific user whose speech is being processed. In another embodiment, after an ASR system interprets an utterance, the confidence in the interpretation is assessed, and three different interactions with the user may then occur.
169 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A system for adapting the user interface in systems that:
- accept speech input and perform automatic speech recognition (ASR), comprising
means for receiving .an utterance; means for processing said utterance using ASR to generate an interpretation of said utterance and to determine a level of confidence in said interpretation; and means for selectively adapting the verification of said interpretation requested from the user as a function of said confidence level, wherein said system further includes means for storing, for each user of said system, information representing a success measure computed as a function of previous uses of said system, and means for retrieving information from said storing means and for adapting said user interface as a function of the value of said success measure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
- accept speech input and perform automatic speech recognition (ASR), comprising
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5. An automatic speech recognition system comprising
means for generating an interpretation of a user'"'"'s utterance and a confidence value for said interpretation, and user interface means operative in response to the magnitude of said confidence value, for (a) requesting said user to verify said interpretation prior to accepting said interpretation as an accurate representation of said utterance, or (b) accepting said interpretation as an accurate representation of said utterance without verification. wherein said system further includes means for storing information indicative of the previous success of said system in interpreting utterances of said user, and means for responsive to said stored information for controlling said user interface means.
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6. A method of adapting the user interface in systems that accept speech input and perform automatic speech recognition (ASR), comprising the steps of
receiving an utterance; -
processing said utterance using ASR to generate an interpretation of said utterance and to determine a level of confidence in said interpretation; and selectively adapting the verification of said interpretation requested from the user as a function of said confidence level, storing, for each user of said system, information representing a success measure computed as a function of previous uses of said system, and retrieving information and altering the user interface as a function of the value of said success measure. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for performing automatic speech recognition system comprising the steps of
generating an interpretation of a user'"'"'s utterance and a confidence value for said interpretation, and adapting the operation or a user interface in response to the magnitude of said confidence value, by (a) requesting said user to verify said interpretation prior to accepting said interpretation as an accurate representation of said utterance, (b) accepting said interpretation as an accurate representation of said utterance without verification, or (c) rejecting said interpretation and requesting said user to provide a new utterance, wherein said method further includes the steps of storing information indicative of the previous success of said system in interpreting utterances of said user, and adapting said user interface in response to said stored information.
Specification