Management of speech and audio prompts in multimodal interfaces
First Claim
1. A communications device having a multimodal user interface offering a user a choice of input modalities, comprising a speech interface for accessing a speech recognizer, and a graphical user interface, and comprising means for dynamically switching between a foreground state of a speech interface and a background state of a speech interface in accordance with a users input modality.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Management of speech and audio prompts, and interface presence, in multimodal user interfaces is provided. A communications device having a multimodal user interface including a speech interface, and a non-speech interface, e.g. a graphical or tactile user interface, comprises means for dynamically switching between a background state of the speech interface and a foreground state of the speech interface in accordance with a users input modality choice. Preferably, in the foreground state speech prompts and speech based error recovery are fully implemented and in a background state speech prompts are replaced by earcons, and no speech based error recovery is implemented. Thus there is provided a device which automatically subdue the speech prompts when a user selects a non-speech input/output mechanism. Also provided is a method for dynamic adjustment of audio prompts and speech prompts by switching from a foreground state to a background state of a speech interface in response to a users current interaction modality, by selecting alternative states for speech and audio interfaces that represent users needs for speech prompts. This type of system and method is particularly useful and applicable to hand held Internet access communication devices.
241 Citations
35 Claims
- 1. A communications device having a multimodal user interface offering a user a choice of input modalities, comprising a speech interface for accessing a speech recognizer, and a graphical user interface, and comprising means for dynamically switching between a foreground state of a speech interface and a background state of a speech interface in accordance with a users input modality.
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13. A method for dynamic adjustment of audio prompts in response to a users interaction modality in a communications system having a multimodal interface comprising a speech interface for accessing a speech recognizer and another interface, the method comprising:
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after prompting a user for input and capturing input, generating an input identifier associated with the user input modality, determining the mode of user input modality and selecting a corresponding one of a foreground state and a background state of the speech interface. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. Software on a computer readable medium for carrying out a method for dynamic adjustment of speech prompts in response to a users interaction modality in a communications system having a multimodal interface comprising a speech interface for accessing a speech recognizer, and another interface, the method comprising:
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after prompting a user for input and capturing input, generating an identifier associated with the user input modality, determining the user input modality and selecting a corresponding one of a foreground state and a background state of the speech interface.
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27. A system for dynamic adjustment of audio prompts in response to a users interaction modality with a communications device having a multimodal interface comprising a speech interface for accessing a speech recognizer and another interface, comprising:
- means for determining the mode of user input modality and selecting a corresponding one of a foreground state and a background state of the speech interface.
- View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
Specification