Robust voice browser system and voice activated device controller

• US 6,721,705 B2
• Filed: 02/05/2001
• Issued: 04/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Parus Holdings, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Webley Systems, Inc. (Webley, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhukoff, Valery, Kurganov, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): MCFADDEN, SUSAN IRIS
• Application Number:
  US09/776,996
• Publication Number:
  US 20010047262A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,163 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/270.1, 704/275, 707/10, 707/102, 707/101
• US Class Current: 704/270.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/16 Sound input; Sound output speech processing G10L
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/187 Phonemic context, e.g. pronunciation rules, phonotactical constraints or phoneme n-grams
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/193 Formal grammars, e.g. finite state automata, context free grammars or word networks
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/39 using speech synthesis
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for acquiring information from sources on a network, such as the Internet. A voice browsing system maintains a database containing a list of information sources, such as web sites, connected to a network. Each of the information sources is assigned a rank number which is listed in the database along with the record for the information source. In response to a speech command received from a user, a network interface system accesses the information source with the highest rank number in order to retrieve information requested by the user.

Claims

1. An Internet voice browsing system for gathering information from web sites on the Internet, comprising:

a CPU-based media server, said media server including at least a speech recognition engine, a speech synthesis engine, an interactive voice response application, a call processing system, and telephony hardware, said media server configured to receive a speech command from a user and to convert said speech command into a digital data message;

a database containing a list of web sites stored on magnetic media,

a rank number assigned to each one of said web sites and stored in said database;

a CPU-based web browsing server, said web browsing server including at least a content extraction agent, a content fetcher, a polling and ranking agent, and a content descriptor file, said web browsing server configured to receive said digital data message from said media server and configured to access one of said web sites having the highest said rank number and to retrieve information from said one of said web sites;

said media server configured to generate an audio message representing said information and to transmit said audio message to said user; and

a polling mechanism configured to periodically send a polling digital data message to each one of said web sites and to receive a response, each of said web sites thereby becoming a polled web site, said polling mechanism configured to decrease said rank number of said polled web site if no response is received from said polled web site, said polling mechanism also configured to decrease said rank number of said polled web site if an unexpected response is received from said polled web site, and said polling mechanism also configured to decreases said rank number of said polled web site if a response time of said polled web site is longer than a second response time of a second polled web site.

2. A method for using voice commands to browse Internet web sites, comprising the steps of:

providing a database storing a list of web sites on magnetic media;

assigning a rank number to each of said web sites and storing said rank number in said database;

receiving a voice command from a user and converting said command into a digital data message;

providing a CPU-based web browsing system for receiving said digital data message and accessing one of said web sites having the highest said rank number, said web browsing system including at least a content extraction agent, a content fetcher, a polling and ranking agent, and a content file;

receiving at said web browsing system response data from said web site with the highest rank number;

converting said response data into an audio message that is transmitted to said user;

periodically polling each of said web sites listed in said database, each of said web sites thereby becoming a polled web site;

decreasing said rank number of said polled web site if no response is received from said polled web site;

decreasing said rank number of said polled web site if an unexpected response is received from said polled web site; and

decreasing said rank number of said polled web site if a response time of said polled web site is longer than a second response time of a second polled web site.

3. A system for remotely controlling household devices, including security systems, lighting systems, heating and air conditioning systems, TVs, and VCRs, comprising:

a CPU-based media server, said media server including at least a speech recognition engine, a speech synthesis engine, an interactive voice response application, a call processing system, and telephony hardware, said media server configured to receive a speech command from a user;

at least one household device connected to a network;

a CPU-based device browsing server, connected with said media server and said network, said device browsing server including at least a content extraction agent, a content fetcher, a polling agent, and a content descriptor file, said device browsing agent configured to access at least one of said household devices in response to said speech command and configured to control the operation of said one of said household devices,

a polling mechanism configured to periodically send a polling digital data message to each said household device and to receive a response, said polling mechanism configured to evaluate said response from a polled household device, and

a warning mechanism configured to generate a warning message if said response data provided by said polled household device cannot be recognized by said polling mechanism.

4. A method for remotely controlling household devices, including security systems, lighting systems, heating and air conditioning systems, TVs, or VCRs, comprising the steps of:

receiving at a user interface system a speech command from a user;

providing at least one household device connected to a network,

accessing by a CPU-based network interface system at least one said household device in response to said speech command in order to control the operation of said one household device;

polling each said household device and attempting to recognize response data received from each polled household device; and

generating a warning message if said response data provided by said polled household device cannot be recognized.