Interactive searching

• US 6,112,172 A
• Filed: 03/31/1998
• Issued: 08/29/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Dragon Systems, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Young, Jonathan H., True, Sean D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hudspeth, David R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ABEBE, DANIEL DEMELASH
• Application Number:
  US09/052,900
• Time in Patent Office: 882 Days
• Field of Search: 704/235, 704/270, 707/3-5
• US Class Current: 704/235
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/43 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A user searches searchable information representing underlying information using an interactive user interface, which indicates to the user which parts of the searchable information represent information in the underlying information that is of interest to the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method that enables a user to control a search of a file that represents underlying raw information, and to find parts of the file that represent material of interest in the raw information, the method comprising:

enabling the user to define criteria applicable to the file and intended to locate parts of the file that tend to represent material in the raw information that may be of interest to the user;

searching the file in accordance with the criteria to find parts of the file that meet the criteria;

defining a measure of the degree to which the found parts represent material in the raw information that is of interest to the user; and

providing an interactive user interface which displays to the user the relationship between the found parts of the file and values of the defined measure with respect to the found parts and which changes the display in response to changes made by the user to a threshold associated with the defined measure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the underlying raw information comprises speech.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the file comprises text produced by a speech recognizer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the underlying raw information comprises text.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the criteria comprise the presence of a particular utterance in speech.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive user interface displays to the user which found parts of the file satisfy the threshold.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein changing the display comprises displaying to the user which found parts of the file satisfy the changed threshold.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the defined measure relates to confidence levels.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein confidence levels are descriptive of degrees to which parts of the file correspond to parts of the raw information.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the interactive user interface displays a bar chart with bars representing the relationship between the found parts of the file and values of the defined measure.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the bar chart indicates the locations of the found parts within the file.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the user changes the threshold to a new value by indicating a location on the bar chart corresponding to the new value.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the user indicates a location on the bar chart using a pointer device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive user interface further displays to the user a representation of the raw information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the interactive user interface displays a representation of a part of the raw information corresponding to a part of the file indicated by the user.

16. A computer-implemented method that enables a user to control a search of a text file that represents speech produced by a speech recognizer, and to find parts of the text file that represent a particular utterance in the speech, the method comprising:

enabling the user to define a query applicable to the text file and intended to locate parts of the text file that tend to represent the particular utterance in the speech;

searching the text file in accordance with the query to find parts of the text file that meet the query;

defining a measure of the degree to which the found parts represent the particular utterance, the defined measure relating to confidence levels descriptive of degrees to which parts of the text file correspond to parts of the speech; and

providing an interactive user interface which;

displays to the user a bar chart with bars representing the relationship between the found parts of the text file and values of the defined measure with respect to the found parts;

indicates the locations of the found parts within the text file;

displays to the user which found parts of the text file satisfy a threshold associated with the defined measure; and

which

changes the display in response to changes made by the user to the threshold.

17. A computer program tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium and operable to cause a computer to enable a user to control a search of a file that represents underlying raw information, and to find parts of the file that represent material of interest in the raw information, the computer program comprising instructions to:

enable the user to define criteria applicable to the file and intended to locate parts of the file that tend to represent material in the raw information that may be of interest to the user;

search the file in accordance with the criteria to find parts of the file that meet the criteria;

define a measure of the degree to which the found parts represent material in the raw information that is of interest to the user; and

provide an interactive user interface which displays to the user the relationship between the found parts of the file and values of the defined measure with respect to the found parts and which changes the display in response to changes made by the user to a threshold associated with the defined measure.

18. The computer program of claim 17, wherein the underlying raw information comprises speech.

19. The computer program of claim 18, wherein the file comprises text produced by a speech recognizer.

20. The computer program of claim 17, wherein the underlying raw information comprises text.

21. The computer program of claim 17, wherein the criteria comprise the presence of a particular utterance in speech.

22. The computer program of claim 17, wherein the interactive user interface displays to the user which found parts of the file satisfy the threshold.

23. The computer program of claim 22, wherein instructions to change the display comprises instructions to display to the user which found parts of the file satisfy the changed threshold.

24. The computer program of claim 17, wherein the defined measure relates to confidence levels.

25. The computer program of claim 24, wherein confidence levels are descriptive of degrees to which parts of the file correspond to parts of the raw information.

26. The computer program of claim 24, wherein the interactive user interface displays a bar chart with bars representing the relationship between the found parts of the file and values of the defined measure.

27. The computer program of claim 26, wherein the bar chart indicates the locations of the found parts within the file.

28. The computer program of claim 26, wherein the user changes the threshold to a new value by indicating a location on the bar chart corresponding to the new value.

29. The computer program of claim 28, wherein the user indicates a location on the bar chart using a pointer device.

30. The computer program of claim 17, wherein the interactive user interface further displays to the user a representation of the raw information.

31. The computer program of claim 30, wherein the interactive user interface displays a representation of a part of the raw information corresponding to a part of the file indicated by the user.

32. A computer program tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium and operable to cause a computer to enable a user to control a search of a file that represents underlying raw information, and to find parts of the file that represent material of interest in the raw information, the computer program comprising instructions to:

enable the user to define a query applicable to the text file and intended to locate parts of the text file that tend to represent the particular utterance in the speech;

search the text file in accordance with the query to find parts of the text file that meet the query;

define a measure of the degree to which the found parts represent the particular utterance, the defined measure relating to confidence levels descriptive of degrees to which parts of the text file correspond to parts of the speech; and

provide an interactive user interface which;

displays to the user a bar chart with bars representing the relationship between the found parts of the text file and values of the defined measure with respect to the found parts;

indicates the locations of the found parts within the text file;

displays to the user which found parts of the text file satisfy a threshold associated with the defined measure; and

which

changes the display in response to changes made by the user to the threshold.