System and method for outputting spoken information in response to input speech signals
First Claim
1. A system for outputting spoken information in response to input speech signals, comprising:
- first means for comparing the speech signals with stored reference signals which correspond to words, and for outputting words determined by the comparisons, together with a score and with statements as regards starting point and end point for each word output, and for storing the words output with the statements in order to form a word graph from consecutive words,second means for replacing predetermined word sequences in the word graph by predetermined concepts with a score which is derived from the sum of the scores of the words of the word sequence replaced, and also with the same starting and end points as the relevant replaced word sequence in order to form a concept graph and for determining values from the replaced word sequences for the individual concepts in the concept graph,third means for determining a sequence of concepts from the concept graph on the basis of the scores, andfourth means for converting the values in the concepts of the sequence into data for a database enquiry in order to control a memory which contains predetermined words or word sequences, and for outputting selected word sequences in the form of complete sentences.
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Abstract
The invention aims to make an automatic information system suitable for the input of requests which are spoken as naturally as possible and which are not subject to restrictions about which the user must be informed in advance. To this end, the system and the method are subdivided into several, essentially independently operating segments with unambiguous interfaces. A first segment serves for the recognition of words and outputs a word graph. A second segment forms a concept graph from the word graph in that essentially the word graph is searched only for word sequences wherefrom values for a database enquiry can be derived; such word sequences, or also single words, are replaced by concepts in the concept graph. In a further segment the concepts in the concept graph are bridged and gaps between the concepts are filled. A speech model is taken into account for this operation. A stochastic attributed grammar is used to determine the concepts from the word graph and to determine the meaning of the word sequences in the concepts. Because irrelevant filler words in the spoken request are ignored early on, the computational expenditure is comparatively small despite the freely pronounced requests.
36 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A system for outputting spoken information in response to input speech signals, comprising:
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first means for comparing the speech signals with stored reference signals which correspond to words, and for outputting words determined by the comparisons, together with a score and with statements as regards starting point and end point for each word output, and for storing the words output with the statements in order to form a word graph from consecutive words, second means for replacing predetermined word sequences in the word graph by predetermined concepts with a score which is derived from the sum of the scores of the words of the word sequence replaced, and also with the same starting and end points as the relevant replaced word sequence in order to form a concept graph and for determining values from the replaced word sequences for the individual concepts in the concept graph, third means for determining a sequence of concepts from the concept graph on the basis of the scores, and fourth means for converting the values in the concepts of the sequence into data for a database enquiry in order to control a memory which contains predetermined words or word sequences, and for outputting selected word sequences in the form of complete sentences. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for outputting spoken information in response to input speech signals, comprising the following steps:
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comparing the speech signals with stored reference signals which correspond to words, and outputting words determined by the comparisons, together with a score and with statements as regards starting point and end point for each word output, and storing the words output with the statements in order to form a word graph from consecutive words, replacing predetermined word sequences in the word graph by predetermined concepts with a score which is derived from the sum of the scores of the words of the word sequence replaced, and also with the same starting and end points as the relevant replaced word sequence forming a concept graph and determining values from the replaced word sequences for the individual concepts in the concept graph, determining a sequence of concepts from the concept graph on the basis of the scores, and converting the values in the concepts of the sequence into data for a database enquiry in order to control a memory which contains predetermined words or word sequences, and outputting selected word sequences in the form of complete sentences. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification