Interactive process for recognition and evaluation of a partial search query and display of interactive results

• US 6,862,713 B1
• Filed: 08/31/1999
• Issued: 03/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kraft, Reiner, Spangler, W. Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US09/387,668
• Time in Patent Office: 2,009 Days
• Field of Search: 345/700, 345/727, 345/728, 345/780, 345/968, 345/978, 345/864, 345/865, 704/4, 704/9, 704/231, 704/236, 704/246, 704/251, 704/211, 704/221, 704/248, 704/253, 704/243, 707 3- 6, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 715/728
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3325 Reformulation based on results of preceding query
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/968 interface for database querying and retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/978 Audio interaction as part of an operator interface

Abstract

A method for presenting to an end-user the intermediate matching search results of a keyword search in an index list of information. The method comprising the steps of: coupling to a search engine a graphical user interface for accepting keyword search terms for searching the indexed list of information with the search engine; receiving one or more keyword search terms with one or more separation characters separating there between; performing a keyword search with the one or more keyword search terms received when a separation character is received; and presenting the number of documents matching the keyword search terms to the end-user, and presenting a graphical menu item on a display. In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, an information processing system and computer readable storage medium carries out the above method.

Claims

1. A method for presenting to an end-user the intermediate matching search results of a keyword search in an index list of information comprising the steps of:

coupling to a search engine executing on a webserver, a graphical user interface for accepting keyword search terms for searching the indexed list of information, wherein the information is multimedia files not related to speech recognition grammars and natural language processing databases as used in speech recognition;

receiving one or more keyword search terms with one or more separation characters separating there between from the end-user;

performing a keyword search with the one or more keyword search terms received after each separation character is received from the end-user; and

presenting a number of documents matching the keyword search terms to the end-user without providing additional information regarding the documents matching the keyword search thereby providing feedback on a narrowness of just the keyword search terms received thus far;

wherein the step of receiving includes receiving one or more separation characters that are the space character using the end-user'"'"'s voice and a speech-to-text engine.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of presenting includes presenting the number of matches to the end-user with audio using a text-to-speech engine.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

receiving a category from the end-user for performing the keyword search.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

receiving one or more boolean connecting criteria for performing the key word search.

5. A method for presenting to an end-user the intermediate matching search results of a keyword search in an index list of information comprising the steps of:

a) coupling to a search engine executing on a webserver, a graphical user interface for accepting keyword search terms for searching the indexed list of information, wherein the information is multimedia files not related to speech recognition grammars and natural language processing databases as used in speech recognition;

b) waiting to receive one or more keyword search terms with one or more predefined separation characters separating there between;

c) identifying if one or more predefined separation characters are received and performing a keyword search with the one or more keyword search terms received in response to receiving each separation character;

d) presenting a number of matches to the keyword search of the indexed list to the end-user without providing additional information regarding the documents matching the keyword search thereby providing feedback on a narrowness of just the keyword search terms received thus far; and

e) repeating steps b through d above until the end-user terminates the keyword search,

wherein the step of waiting further includes the sub-step of waiting a predetermined amount of time between keywords received and automatically inserting a predefined separation character after each keyword enter, once the predetermined amount of time elapsed.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the step of presenting includes presenting the number of matches to the end-user with audio using a text-to-speech engine.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the step of waiting to receive includes waiting to receive one or more keyword search terms with one or more predefined separation characters that is converted to text using a speech-to-text engine from an end-user'"'"'s voice input.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of waiting to receive includes waiting to receive predefined separation characters that are converted from the end-user'"'"'s voice during periods of silence between spoken keyword terms.

9. A method for searching a database and presenting intermediate search results with a voice interface comprising the steps of:

receiving a spoken input from a user having a first portion of a search request;

searching the spoken input for a predefined delimiter;

performing a search of the database on webserver with the first portion of the search request in response to the predefined delimiter, wherein the database contains multimedia files not related to speech recognition grammars and natural language processing databases as used in speech recognition;

presenting an audio message to the user indicative of intermediate search results including a number of database records that match the first portion of the search request without providing additional information regarding the documents matching the keyword search thereby providing feedback on a narrowness of just the keyword search terms received thus far;

receiving a subsequent spoken input from the user for a subsequent portion of the search request;

performing a subsequent search of the database with the first and the subsequent portion of the search request; and

presenting a second audio message to the user indicative of a subsequent search result having a second number of records that match the first and the subsequent portions of the search request without providing additional information regarding the documents matching the keyword search thereby providing feedback on a narrowness of just the keyword search terms received thus far.

10. The method according to claim 9 wherein said step of searching the spoken input for the predefined delimiter parses the spoken input for a word boundary based on non-vocalized patterns and wherein the predefined delimiter corresponds to the word boundary.

11. The method according to claim 9 wherein said step of searching the spoken input for the predefined delimiter parses the spoken input for word boundaries based on non-vocalized patterns and wherein the predefined delimiter corresponds to a time delay between the word boundaries.

12. The method according to claim 11 wherein the time delay is selectable by the user.

13. The method according to claim 11 wherein the non-vocalized patterns for determining word boundaries are shorter than the time delay, thereby providing for the first portion of the search request to include multiple spoken words.

14. The method according to claim 9 wherein said steps of receiving are performed on a telephone microphone and said steps of presenting are performed on a telephone speaker, thereby providing a hands free application that facilitates building a search request using a telephone.

15. The method according to claim 14 wherein the database corresponds to the Internet, thereby providing a hands free application that facilitates building a search request of Internet records using a telephone.

16. The method according to claim 14 wherein the telephone is a cell phone, thereby providing a mobile hands free application that facilitates building a search request Internet records using a mobile telephone.

17. The method according to claim 9 wherein said steps of receiving are performed on a microphone and said steps of presenting are performed on a speaker coupled to a Personal Digital Assistant, a Personal Information Manager or a Personal Computer, and wherein the database corresponds to the Internet, thereby providing a hands free application that facilitates building a search request of Internet records using a Personal Digital Assistant, a Personal Information Manager or a Personal Computer.

18. The method according to claim 9 wherein

said steps of receiving and searching are performed using a speech-to-text engine,

said steps of performing are performed using a text search engine which generates text results, and

said steps of presenting are performed using a text-to-speech engine.

19. A method in a telephone for searching a database and presenting intermediate search results with a voice interface comprising the steps of:

receiving at a microphone of the telephone a spoken input having a first portion of a search request;

searching the spoken input for a predefined delimiter;

performing a search of the database on a webserver with the first portion of the search request in response to the predefined delimiter, wherein the database contains multimedia files not related to speech recognition grammars and natural language processing databases as used in speech recognition;

presenting at a speaker of the telephone an audio message indicative of intermediate search results including a number of database records that match the first portion of the search request without providing additional information regarding the documents matching the keyword search thereby providing feedback on a narrowness of just the keyword search terms received thus far;

receiving at the microphone a subsequent spoken input for a subsequent portion of the search request;

performing a subsequent search of the database with the first and the subsequent portion of the search request; and

presenting at the speaker a second audio message indicative of a subsequent search result having a second number of records that match the first and the subsequent portions of the search request without providing additional information regarding the documents matching the keyword search thereby providing feedback on a narrowness of just the keyword search terms received thus far.

20. The method according to claim 19 wherein said step of searching the spoken input for the predefined delimiter parses the spoken inputs for a word boundary based on non-vocalized patterns and wherein the predefined delimiter corresponds to the word boundary.

21. The method according to claim 19 wherein said step of searching the spoken input for the predefined delimiter parses the spoken inputs for word boundaries based on non-vocalized patterns and the predefined delimiter corresponds to a time delay between the word boundaries, the time delay being longer than the non-vocalized patterns for determining the word boundaries, thereby providing for the a portion, of the search request to include multiple spoken words.

22. The method according to claim 19 wherein the telephone is incorporate within a Personal Digital Assistant, a Personal Information Manager or a Personal Computer, and wherein the database corresponds to the Internet, thereby providing a hands free application that facilitates building a search request of Internet records using a Personal Digital Assistant, a Personal Information Manager or a Personal Computer.

23. A method for searching records of a database having a record index and presenting intermediate search results with a voice interface comprising the steps of:

receiving a spoken input from a user having a first portion of a search request;

searching the spoken input for a predefined delimiter;

performing a search of the record index with the first portion of the search request in response to the predefined delimiter;

presenting an audio message to the user indicative of intermediate search results including a number of database records on webserver that match the first portion of the search request without providing additional information regarding the documents matching the keyword search thereby providing feedback on a narrowness of just the keyword search terms received thus far, wherein the database records contains multimedia files not related to speech recognition grammars and natural language processing databases as used in speech recognition;

receiving a subsequent spoken input from the user for a subsequent portion of the search request;

searching the subsequent spoken input for the predefined delimiter;

performing a subsequent search of the record index with the first and the subsequent portions of the search request in response thereto; and

presenting a second audio message to the user indicative of a subsequent search result having a second number of records that match the first and the subsequent portions of the search request without providing additional information regarding the documents matching the keyword search thereby providing feedback on a narrowness of just the keyword search terms received thus far.

24. The method according to claim 23 wherein

said steps of receiving and searching are performed using a speech-to-text engine,

said steps of performing are performed using a text search engine which generates text results, and

said steps of presenting are performed using a text-to-speech engine.

25. The method according to claim 23 wherein said step of searching the spoken input for the predefined delimiter parses the spoken inputs for word boundaries based on non-vocalized patterns and the predefined delimiter corresponds to a time delay between the word boundaries, the time delay being longer than the non-vocalized patterns for determining the word boundaries, thereby providing for the a portion of the search request to include multiple spoken words.

26. The method according to claim 23 wherein said steps of receiving and presenting are performed on a telephone microphone and speaker respectively, thereby providing a hands free application that facilitates building a search request for retrieval of database records using a telephone.