Voice recognition for animated agent-based navigation

• US 6,377,928 B1
• Filed: 03/31/1999
• Issued: 04/23/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Saxena, Parichay, Dong, Sheng, Nsonwu, Alexandra
• Primary Examiner(s): Dorvil, Richemond
• Assistant Examiner(s): MCFADDEN, SUSAN IRIS
• Application Number:
  US09/283,385
• Time in Patent Office: 1,119 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/275, 707/501, 707/513, 345/357
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/16 Sound input; Sound output speech processing G10L
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence

Abstract

A method of operation of a computer system for processing an arbitrary document such as a World Wide Web page to provide additional information not immediately available from the raw, unprocessed document. This additional information allows a user to navigate and control the content of the document using, in some embodiments, voice commands and/or an agent-based user interface. The present disclosure provides both a visual display of previously invisible links embedded in a web page image and an audible indication of the presence of such links. The present invention further comprises a scripting language that allows the rapid creation of executable computer instructions (or scripts) for controlling the behaviors and functionality of the agent-based interface. Such scripts enable the creation of a friendlier, easy to use interface to the navigation and control features. The present invention also comprises the ability to read the contents of an arbitrary web page aloud, including the names of embedded hypertext links, thus facilitating web surfing by the sightless.

Claims

1. A method of processing a document with a computer system, the method comprising:

the computer system reading a code for a non-textual visual feature in the document; and

the computer system generating a signal informing a user of the non-textual visual feature, said signal comprising an audio signal and a textual tag created in response to said code;

wherein the non-textual visual feature is associated with one or more hyperlinks and said signal informs the user that the non-textual visual feature is associated with said hyperlinks.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein generating said signal comprises the computer system speaking all or part of said document while scrolling said document in synchronization with said speaking.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said scrolling has a variable speed selected by the user.

4. A computer system comprising computer instructions for:

reading a code for a non-textual visual feature in a document; and

generating a signal informing a user of the non-textual visual feature, said

signal comprising an audio signal and a textual tag created in response to said code;

wherein the non-textual visual feature is associated with one or more hyperlinks and said signal informs the user that the non-textual visual feature is associated with said hyperlinks.

5. The computer system of claim 4 wherein generating said signal comprises the computer system speaking all or part of said document while scrolling said document in synchronization with said speaking.

6. The computer system of claim 5 wherein said scrolling has a variable speed selected by the user.

7. The computer system of claim 4 wherein said computer instructions are created by:

a computer system reading a computer program written in a scripting language,

said scripting language including a plurality of operations which do not specify for each operation how the operation is to be implemented by the computer system,

said operations each comprising an operator having, optionally, one or more operands;

executing said computer program, wherein said executing comprises;

parsing each line of said computer program written in said scripting language into one of said plurality of operations,

decomposing each of said operations into said operator and said optional operand or operands,

performing the function of said operator using said operand or operands, when present, by translating said scripting languagre operation into one or more program instructions recognizable by said computer system that together implement said operation; and

displaying the results of said performance to a user;

wherein said computer system comprises computer instructions for providing an agent-based user interface.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein said scripting language further comprises a plurality of category types each identified by a unique category name, wherein said category name denotes a group of said operations, and wherein reading said group is accomplished in response to a user input to said computer system.

9. The computer system of claim 7, wherein said scripting language further comprises pairs of said operators and said optional operands written as one pair per line of said computer program.

10. The computer system of claim 7, wherein said scripting language further comprises pairs of said operators and said optional operands written as a plurality of pairs per line of said computer program each separated by a delimiter symbol, said delimiter symbol comprising one or more characters.

11. The computer system of claim 7 wherein said computer system comprises at least computer instructions for executing an agent-driven application.

12. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer instructions for:

reading a code for a non-textual visual feature in a document; and

the computer system generating a signal informing a user of the non-textual visual feature, said signal comprising an audio signal and a textual tag created in response to said code;

wherein the non-textual visual feature is associated with one or more hyperlinks and said signal informs the user that the non-textual visual feature is associated with said hyperlinks.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein generating said signal comprises the computer system speaking all or part of said document while scrolling said document in synchronization with said speaking.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein said scrolling has a variable speed selected by the user.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein said computer instructions are created by:

a computer system reading a computer program written in a scripting language,

said scripting language including a plurality of operations which do not specify for each operation how the operation is to be implemented by the computer system,

said operations each comprising an operator having, optionally, one or more operands; and

said computer system generating one or more instructions that together perform said operations;

wherein said computer system comprises computer instructions for providing an agent based interface.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein said scripting language further comprises a plurality of category types each identified by a unique category name, wherein said category name denotes a group of said operations, and wherein reading said group is accomplished in response to a user input to said computer system.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein said scripting language further comprises pairs of said operators and said optional operands written as one pair per line of said computer program.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein said scripting language further comprises pairs of said operators and said optional operands written as a plurality of pairs per line of said computer program each separated by a delimiter symbol, said delimiter symbol comprising one or more characters.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein said computer system comprises at least computer instructions for executing an agent-driven application.

20. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave, the computer data signal comprising computer instructions for:

reading a code for a non-textual visual feature in a document; and

the computer system generating a signal informing a user of the non-textual visual feature, said signal comprising an audio signal and a textual tag created in response to said code;

wherein the non-textual visual feature is associated with one or more hyperlinks and said signal informs the user that the non-textual visual feature is associated with said hyperlinks.

21. The computer data signal of claim 20 wherein generating said signal comprises the computer system speaking all or part of said document while scrolling said document in synchronization with said speaking.

22. The computer data signal of claim 21 wherein said scrolling has a variable speed selected by the user.

23. The computer data signal of claim 20 wherein said computer instructions are created by:

a computer system reading a computer program written in a scripting language,

said scripting language including a plurality of operations which do not specify for each operation how the operation is to be implemented by the computer system,

said operations each comprising an operator having, optionally, one or more operands; and

said computer system generating one or more instructions that together perform said operations;

wherein said computer system comprises computer instructions for providing an agent based interface.

24. The computer data signal of claim 23, wherein said scripting language further comprises a plurality of category types each identified by a unique category name, wherein said category name denotes a group of said operations, and wherein reading said group is accomplished in response to a user input to said computer system.

25. The computer data signal of claim 23, wherein said scripting language further comprises pairs of said operators and said optional operands written as one pair per line of said computer program.

26. The computer data signal of claim 23, wherein said scripting language further comprises pairs of said operators and said optional operands written as a plurality of pairs per line of said computer program each separated by a delimiter symbol, said delimiter symbol comprising one or more characters.

27. The computer data signal of claim 23 wherein said computer system comprises at least computer instructions for executing an agent-driven application.