System and method of voice recognition near a wireline node of network supporting cable television and/or video delivery

• US 7,685,523 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2005
• Issued: 03/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2000
• Status: Expired

• Current Assignee: Promptu Systems Corporation
• Original Assignee: Agiletv Corporation (Promptu Systems Corporation)
• Inventors: Calderone, Theodore, Cook, Paul M., Foster, Mark J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chawan; Vijay B
• Application Number:
  US11/283,176
• Publication Number:
  US 20060080106A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,587 Days
• Field of Search: 704270-278, 704/231, 704/251, 704/201, 704/246, 704/270.1, 715/272, 715/728, 715/730, 705/34, 705/40, 705 51- 53, 709/203, 709/217
• US Class Current: 715/728
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: H03D 7/163 the local oscillations of at least two of the frequency changers being derived from a single oscillator
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/06 Deflection routing, e.g. hot-potato routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 7/02 Speed or phase control by the received code signals, the signals containing no special synchronisation information H04L7/0075 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/385 using speech signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/233 Processing of audio elementary streams monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23805 Controlling the feeding rate to the network, e.g. by controlling the video pump
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2743 Video hosting of uploaded data from client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42203 sound input device, e.g. microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42222 Additional components integrated in the remote control device, e.g. timer, speaker, sensors for detecting position, direction or movement of the remote control, microphone or battery charging device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4415 using biometric characteristics of the user, e.g. by voice recognition or fingerprint scanning cryptography using biological data H04L9/3231; authentication in networks using biometric H04L63/0861
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 : Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 : for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 : Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 : Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8106 : involving special audio data, e.g. different tracks for different languages
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 : Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

A method and system of speech recognition presented by a back channel from multiple user sites within a network supporting cable television and/or video delivery is disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of using a back channel containing a multiplicity of speech channels from a multiplicity of user devices presented to a speech recognition system in a network supporting content delivery, comprising the steps of:

partitioning a received back channel containing a multiplicity of speech channels from a multiplicity of user devices into a multiplicity of received identified speech channels;

processing said multiplicity of received identified speech channels to create recognized speech for each of said received identified speech channels; and

transmitting a unique response to each of said user devices, based upon said recognized speech.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of the steps of:

determining a user site associated with a user device from said received identified speech channel;

determining said associated user site from said recognized speech;

determining said associated user site from said recognized speech and a speaker identification library;

determining said associated user site from said recognized speech and a speech recognition library; and

determining said associated user site from an identification within said speech channel.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

assessing said response identified as to said user device to create a financial consequence; and

billing a user associated with said user device based upon said financial consequence.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

assessing said response to create a financial consequence identified with said user site;

communicating said financial consequence to said user;

said user confirming said communicated financial consequence to create a financial commitment; and

billing said user based upon said financial commitment.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising of the steps of:

fetching a user profile list based upon said user device, said user profile list containing at least one user profile; and

identifying said user based upon said recognized speech and based upon said user profile list.

6. The method of claim 1, said processing step comprising of the step of:

responding to said recognized speech identified as to said user device based upon natural language to create a response uniquely identified with said user device.

7. A method for controlling a speech recognition system coupled to a network, comprising the steps of:

processing a multiplicity of received identified speech channels to create a multiplicity of recognized speech;

responding to said recognized speech to create a recognized speech response that is unique to each of said multiplicity of recognized speech; and

providing said speech recognition system at a back channel accessible by a multiplicity of user devices coupled to said network.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising any of the steps of:

determining a user associated with user device from a received identified speech channel;

determining said user associated with said user device from said recognized speech;

determining said user associated with said user device from said recognized speech and a speaker identification library;

determining said user associated with said user device from said recognized speech and a speech recognition library; and

determining said user associated with said user device from an identification within a speech channel.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

assessing said response identified with a user associated with a user device to create a financial consequence to said user; and

billing said user based upon said financial consequence.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

fetching a user profile list based upon said user device, said user profile list containing at least one user profile; and

identifying said user based upon recognized speech and based upon said user profile list.

11. An apparatus for speech recognition in a network, comprising:

a speech recognition system coupled to said network for receiving a back channel from a multiplicity of user devices;

a back channel receiver for receiving said back channel;

a speech channel partitioner for partitioning said received back channel into a multiplicity of received identified speech channels;

a processor for processing said multiplicity of said received identified speech channels to create recognized speech for each of said received identified speech channels; and

responding to said recognized speech to create a unique response for transmission to each of said user devices.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, said processing comprising means for:

determining a user associated with a user device from said received identified speech channel;

determining said associated user from said recognized speech;

determining said associated user from said recognized speech and a speaker identification library;

determining said associated user from said recognized speech and a speech recognition library; and

determining said associated user from an identification within said speech channel.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

means for assessing content response identified as to said user to create a financial consequence to said user site; and

billing said user site based upon said financial consequence.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

means for fetching a user profile list based upon said user devices, said user profile list containing at least one user profile; and

means for identifying said user based upon said recognized speech content and based upon said user profile list.