Data retrieval assistance system and method utilizing a speech recognition system and a live operator
First Claim
1. A data retrieval assistance system for providing requested information to a requester based upon identifying information provided by the requester, the system comprising:
- means for conveying said identifying information to a live operator;
a computer having access to an information database, and means for searching said database in response to an inquiry; and
a voice communication interface from said live operator to said computer that includes a speech recognition system capable of converting a spoken inquiry from said live operator into an interpreted searchable inquiry that is available to said means for searching.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus utilizes a personal speech recognition system to enable data retrieval assistance operators to retrieve customer requested information from an information database based upon a voiced inquiry by the operator. Instead of requiring an operator to interpret a calling customer'"'"'s request and communicate the same to a computer via a number of keyboard strokes, the live operator may submit the same or equivalent inquiry via a voice utterance that is recognized by the searching computer as a searchable inquiry by a speech recognition system, which is preferably trained to recognize the particular voice of the live operator. Only the voice of the live operator needs to be identified by the voice recognition unit, and the incorporation of the voice recognition technology into the system is thus transparent to the requesting customer. Once the appropriate data is found, the information is released to the requester in a conventional manner, automatically, or after a particular voice command is uttered by the live operator to the computer.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A data retrieval assistance system for providing requested information to a requester based upon identifying information provided by the requester, the system comprising:
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means for conveying said identifying information to a live operator;
a computer having access to an information database, and means for searching said database in response to an inquiry; and
a voice communication interface from said live operator to said computer that includes a speech recognition system capable of converting a spoken inquiry from said live operator into an interpreted searchable inquiry that is available to said means for searching. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of data retrieval assistance for providing requested information to a requestor based upon identifying information provided by the requestor, comprising the steps of:
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establishing a communication link between a directory assistance system and a requestor;
conveying said identifying information to a live operator;
positioning a speech recognition system between said live operator and a computer having access to an information database;
searching said information database at least partially in response to an utterance spoken by said live operator to said computer via said speech recognition system, wherein at least a portion of said utterance is an interpretation of at least a portion of said identifying information; and
providing a search result to said requester. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
recording a requester utterance made by said requester;
playing back a portion of said requester utterance to said live operator.
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10. The method of data retrieval assistance of claim 8 further comprising a step of specifically training said voice recognition system to recognize speech by said live operator.
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11. The method of data retrieval assistance of claim 8 further comprising a step of identifying a group of most frequently requested data that is a subset of said information database.
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12. The method of data retrieval assistance of claim 11 further comprising the steps of:
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determining whether said identifying information corresponds to one of said most frequently requested data; and
if said identifying information corresponds to one of said most frequently requested data, then searching said subset of said information database at least partially in response to said utterance spoken by said live operator to said computer.
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13. The method of data retrieval assistance of claim 8 further comprising the steps of:
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displaying a search result on a view screen visible to said live operator;
choosing a single data group if said search result includes a plurality of data groups; and
providing said single data group to said requestor; and
at least one of said choosing step and said providing step includes a voiced communication from said live operator to said computer.
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14. The method of data retrieval assistance of claim 8 further comprising the steps of:
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conveying said identifying information to a direct voice communication interface from said requester to said computer; and
converting said identifying information with an independent speech recognition system into an independent searchable inquiry.
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15. A software program executable by a computer processor for use in a data retrieval assistance system for providing requested information to a requestor based upon identifying information provided by the requestor, the software comprising:
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means for communicating identifying information from a requestor to an individual live operator;
means for training a speech recognition system to recognize words spoken by said individual live operator;
means for converting words spoken by said individual live operator into a searchable inquiry;
means for searching a information database using said searchable inquiry; and
means for providing a search result based upon said searchable inquiry to said requestor. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification