Method and apparatus for continuous spelling speech recognition with early identification
First Claim
1. A speech recognition system for recognizing a word based on a continuous spoken spelling of the word before the word has been completely spoken and as each uttered letter of the spelling is received, the system comprising:
- a speech recognition engine for;
receiving acoustic input representing one or more continuously uttered letters of at least one word;
determining, based on the acoustic input, hypotheses for the one or more letters of the word as the letters are received; and
periodically, before the word has been completely spoken, outputting an updated string of hypothesized letters as the hypotheses are determined, the updated string representing a partial spelling of the word or words represented by the continuous spelling; and
a spelling engine operably engaged with the speech recognition engine, the spelling engine having access to a vocabulary list and including a confusability matrix representing the confusability between each hypothesized letter and each letter of each word within the vocabulary list, wherein the spelling engine;
receives the periodically updated string of hypothesized letters representing the partial spelling as each letter is uttered; and
compares the string to the words in the vocabulary list to obtain one word from the vocabulary list that best matches the uttered letter.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A speech recognition system capable of recognizing a word or a plurality of words based on a continuous spelling of the word(s) by a user. The system includes a speech recognition engine with a decoder running in forward mode such that the recognition engine continuously outputs an updated string of hypothesized letters based on the letters uttered by the user. The system further includes a spelling engine for comparing each string of hypothesized letters to a vocabulary list of words. The spelling engine returns a best match for the string of hypothesized letters. The system may also include an early identification unit for presenting the user with the best matching word(s) possibly before the user has completed spelling the desired word(s).
280 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A speech recognition system for recognizing a word based on a continuous spoken spelling of the word before the word has been completely spoken and as each uttered letter of the spelling is received, the system comprising:
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a speech recognition engine for; receiving acoustic input representing one or more continuously uttered letters of at least one word; determining, based on the acoustic input, hypotheses for the one or more letters of the word as the letters are received; and periodically, before the word has been completely spoken, outputting an updated string of hypothesized letters as the hypotheses are determined, the updated string representing a partial spelling of the word or words represented by the continuous spelling; and a spelling engine operably engaged with the speech recognition engine, the spelling engine having access to a vocabulary list and including a confusability matrix representing the confusability between each hypothesized letter and each letter of each word within the vocabulary list, wherein the spelling engine; receives the periodically updated string of hypothesized letters representing the partial spelling as each letter is uttered; and compares the string to the words in the vocabulary list to obtain one word from the vocabulary list that best matches the uttered letter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for recognizing a desired word based on a continuous spoken spelling of that word by a user before the word has been completely spoken and as each uttered letter of the spelling is received, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving one or more continuously uttered letters of the word from a user; processing the letters into a speech signal having a format that is compatible with a speech recognition engine as each of the letters is received; analyzing the speech signal using a speech recognition engine to determine hypotheses for the letters as they are received and to periodically output, before the word has been completely spoken, an updated string of hypothesized letters as hypotheses for the letters are determined, the updated string representing a partial spelling of the word represented by the uttered letters; comparing the updated strings of hypothesized letters representing partial spellings to a preselected vocabulary comprising a list of words using a spelling engine as the letters are received until a best match is obtained between a given string of hypothesized letters and a single vocabulary word. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer-implemented method for automatically recognizing a word based on an electronic speech signal that represents a continuous spoken spelling of the word before the word has been completely spoken and as each uttered letter of the word is received, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving and processing one or more continuously uttered letters of the word into the electronic speech signal; analyzing the electronic speech signal to determine hypotheses for one or more letters of the word as the speech signal and uttered letters are received and before the word has been completely spoken; periodically outputting, before the word has been completely spoken, an updated string of hypothesized letters as the hypotheses are determined, the updated string representing the portion of the word; comparing the updated string to a plurality of pre-selected vocabulary words as the letters are received until a best match is obtained between the updated string and one vocabulary word; and outputting the vocabulary word, before the word has been completely spoken, based on the best match.
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Specification