Speech interpreter with a unified grammer compiler
First Claim
1. A method for converting a lexicon and a unified grammar (UG) description into a speech recognition (SR) grammar for controlling a speech recognizer, the lexicon including a plurality of UG word entries having predefined characteristics and the UG description including a plurality of UG rules, each UG rule having at least one augmentation, the UG rules defining grammatically allowable word sequences, the method being implemented as a plurality of program instructions and data stored in a memory of a system including a central processing unit (CPU) with the memory coupled to the CPU, a system bus coupled to the CPU, and an input means coupled to the system bus for receiving a digital signal representative of an acoustic signal, the method including the steps of:
- generating from the lexicon a plurality of SR word entries in said SR grammar corresponding to said plurality of UG word entries;
generating from the lexicon and the UG description a plurality of permissible SR word sequences and a plurality of SR rules in said SR grammar, said SR word sequences and said SR rules corresponding to the augmentations of said UG rules; and
storing said SR word entries, said permissible SR word sequences and said SR rules in the memory.
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Abstract
The present invention provides a unified grammar for a speech interpreter capable of real-time speech understanding for user applications running on a general purpose microprocessor-based computer. The speech interpreter includes a unified grammar (UG) compiler, a speech recognizer and a natural language (NL) processor. The UG compiler receives a common UG lexicon and unified grammar description, and generates harmonized speech recognition (SR) and NL grammars for the speech recognizer and natural language processor, respectively. The lexicon includes a plurality of UG word entries having predefined characteristics, i.e., features, while the UG description includes a plurality of complex UG rules which define grammatically allowable word sequences. The UG compiler converts the complex UG rules (complex UG rules include augmentations for constraining the UG rules) into permissible SR word sequences and SR simple rules (simple rules do not include any augmentation) for the SR grammar. The SR grammar is a compact representation of the SR word entries corresponding to the UG word entries, permissible SR word sequences and simple SR rules corresponding to the augmentations of the complex UG rules. The NL grammar provides the NL processor with NL patterns enabling the NL processor to extract the meaning of the validated word sequences passed from the speech recognizer.
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Citations
45 Claims
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1. A method for converting a lexicon and a unified grammar (UG) description into a speech recognition (SR) grammar for controlling a speech recognizer, the lexicon including a plurality of UG word entries having predefined characteristics and the UG description including a plurality of UG rules, each UG rule having at least one augmentation, the UG rules defining grammatically allowable word sequences, the method being implemented as a plurality of program instructions and data stored in a memory of a system including a central processing unit (CPU) with the memory coupled to the CPU, a system bus coupled to the CPU, and an input means coupled to the system bus for receiving a digital signal representative of an acoustic signal, the method including the steps of:
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generating from the lexicon a plurality of SR word entries in said SR grammar corresponding to said plurality of UG word entries; generating from the lexicon and the UG description a plurality of permissible SR word sequences and a plurality of SR rules in said SR grammar, said SR word sequences and said SR rules corresponding to the augmentations of said UG rules; and storing said SR word entries, said permissible SR word sequences and said SR rules in the memory. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for recognizing a digitized acoustic signal with a speech recognizer controlled by a speech recognition (SR) grammar corresponding to a lexicon and a unified grammar (UG) description, the lexicon including a plurality of UG word entries having predefined characteristics and the UG description including a plurality of UG rules, each UG rule having at least one augmentation, the UG rules defining grammatically allowable word sequences, the method being implemented as a plurality of program instructions and data stored in a memory of a system including a central processing unit (CPU) with the memory coupled to the CPU, a system bus coupled to the CPU, and an input means coupled to the system bus for receiving the digitized acoustic signal, the method including the steps of:
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generating from the lexicon a plurality of SR word entries in said SR grammar corresponding to said plurality of UG word entries; generating from the lexicon and the UG description a plurality of permissible SR word sequences and a plurality of SR rules in said SR grammar, said permissible SR word sequences and said SR rules corresponding to the augmentations of said UG rules; and comparing the digitized acoustic signal with said SR word entries, said SR word sequences and said SR rules for generating a validated word sequence corresponding to the digitized acoustic signal for a natural language processor. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 43, 44)
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23. An apparatus for converting a lexicon and a unified grammar (UG) description into a speech recognition (SR) grammar for controlling a speech recognizer, the lexicon including a plurality of UG word entries having predefined characteristics, the UG description including a plurality of UG rules, each UG rule having at least one augmentation, the UG rules defining grammatically allowable word sequences, the apparatus incorporated within a system including a central processing unit (CPU), a memory coupled to the CPU, a system bus coupled to the CPU, and an input means coupled to the system bus for receiving a digital signal representative of an acoustic signal, the apparatus comprising:
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a lexical processor for generating from the lexicon a plurality of SR word entries corresponding to said plurality of UG word entries; and a sequence and rule generator for generating from the lexicon and the UG description a plurality of permissible SR word sequences and a plurality of SR rules in said SR grammar, said permissible SR word sequences and said SR rules corresponding to the augmentations of said UG rules. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 45)
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34. A speech recognition system for recognizing a digitized acoustic signal, said system controlled by a speech recognition (SR) grammar corresponding to a lexicon and a unified grammar (UG) description, the lexicon including a plurality of UG word entries having characteristics, the UG description including a plurality of UG rules defining grammatically allowable word sequences, said system comprising:
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a central processing unit (CPU); a memory coupled to the CPU; a system bus coupled to the CPU; an acoustic input device coupled to the system bus for receiving the digitized acoustic signal; a lexical processor for generating from the lexicon a plurality of SR word entries corresponding to said plurality of UG word entries; and a sequence and rule generator for generating from the lexicon and the UG description a plurality of permissible SR word sequences and a plurality of SR rules in said SR grammar, said permissible SR word sequences and said SR rules corresponding to the augmentations of said UG rules. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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Specification