Conveying locations in spoken dialog systems

• US 8,065,078 B2
• Filed: 08/10/2007
• Issued: 11/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Acero, Alex, Ju, Yun-Cheng, Seltzer, Michael Lewis, Tashev, Ivan
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell; James P
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shafi; Muhammad
• Application Number:
  US11/836,955
• Publication Number:
  US 20090043497A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,565 Days
• Field of Search: 701/201, 701/205, 701/209, 701/211, 340/988
• US Class Current: 701/201
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3644 Landmark guidance, e.g. using POIs or conspicuous other objects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence

Abstract

The presentation of location information to a user that is distracted by traveling can result in the user quickly forgetting, or never even comprehending, key parts of the location information, such as the street number. Identification can be made of intersections and points of interest near the user'"'"'s destination, which can then be provided instead of, or in addition to, the address, thereby increasing user comprehension and retention, especially when distracted. Map data can be parsed into addresses, intersections and points of interest databases. These databases can be accessed to identify proximate intersections and points of interest, which can then be filtered and subsequently ranked to identify one intersection, one point of interest, or both, that can be presented to the user to aid the user in comprehending and retaining the location information even when distracted.

Claims

1. A computing device-implemented method for providing location information corresponding to an address to a user, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting, based on the setting of the address, an area proximate to the address;

identifying, with reference to an intersections database comprising intersection information extracted from one or more conventional map databases, intersections within the selected area;

identifying, with reference to a points of interest database comprising points of interest information extracted from the one or more conventional map databases, points of interest within the selected area;

ranking by a central processing unit of the computing device each street of the identified intersections according to a first set of criteria if more than one intersection was identified;

ranking, by the central processing unit, the identified intersections, based on a summation of the ranking of each street that comprises the intersection, if more than one intersection was identified;

ranking, by the central processing unit, the identified points of interest according to a second set of criteria if more than one point of interest was identified;

filtering, by the central processing unit, the identified intersections prior to ranking the identified intersections to remove inappropriate intersections; and

filtering the identified points of interest prior to ranking the identified points of interest to remove inappropriate points of interest;

identifying a highest ranked intersection if any intersection was identified;

identifying a highest ranked point of interest if any point of interest was identified;

creating a user presentation of the location information corresponding to the address comprising the highest ranked intersection, if any, and the highest ranked point of interest, if any;

normalizing the user presentation in accordance with an aural delivery mechanism, the normalizing comprising replacing abbreviations and numbers with their spoken equivalents based on context; and

delivering the normalized user presentation with the aural delivery mechanism that is communicationally coupled to the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user presentation is created in accordance with a predetermined preference from among the highest ranked intersection, the highest ranked point of interest, and combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of criteria comprises criteria directed to a number of other intersections that include each street, individually, of each identified intersection.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of predetermined criteria comprises criteria directed to whether an identified intersection shares a street with the address.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second set of criteria is adjusted based on the user'"'"'s expected familiarity with types of points of interest.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein inappropriate intersections comprise intersections identified as such because a single street changed names.

7. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions providing location information corresponding to an address to a user that may be distracted, the computer-executable instructions directed to steps comprising:

selecting, based on the setting of the address, an area proximate to the address;

identifying, with reference to an intersections database comprising intersection information extracted from one or more conventional map databases, intersections within the selected area;

identifying, with reference to a points of interest database comprising points of interest information extracted from the one or more conventional map databases, points of interest within the selected area;

ranking each street of the identified intersections according to a first set of criteria if more than one intersection was identified;

ranking the identified intersections, based on a summation of the ranking of each street that comprises the intersection, if more than one intersection was identified;

ranking the identified points of interest according to a second set of criteria if more than one point of interest was identified;

filtering the identified intersections prior to ranking the identified intersections to remove inappropriate intersections; and

filtering the identified points of interest prior to ranking the identified points of interest to remove inappropriate points of interest;

identifying a highest ranked intersection if any intersection was identified;

identifying a highest ranked point of interest if any point of interest was identified;

creating a user presentation of the location information corresponding to the address comprising the highest ranked intersection, if any, and the highest ranked point of interest, if any;

normalizing the user presentation in accordance with an aural delivery mechanism, the normalizing comprising replacing abbreviations and numbers with their spoken equivalents based on context; and

delivering the normalized user presentation with the aural delivery mechanism.

8. The computer-readable media of claim 7 comprising further computer-executable instructions directed to one or more conventional map database to derive an addresses database correlating addresses to their location in a coordinate system, the intersections database correlating intersections to their location in the coordinate system, and the points of interest database correlating points of interest to their location in the coordinate system;

wherein the identifying intersections within the selected area and the identifying points of interest within the selected area are performed with reference to the addresses database, the intersections database, and the points of interest database.

9. The computer-readable media of claim 8, wherein the points of interest database comprises user-entered points of interest.

10. The computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein the user presentation is created in accordance with a predetermined preference from among the highest ranked intersection, the highest ranked point of interest, and combinations thereof.

11. The computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein the first set of criteria comprises criteria directed to a number of other intersections that include each street, individually, of each identified intersection.

12. The computer-readable media of claim 7, wherein the second set of criteria is adjusted based on the user'"'"'s expected familiarity with types of points of interest.

13. A system for providing location information corresponding to an address to a user, the system comprising:

an intersections database comprising intersection information extracted from one or more conventional map database;

a points of interest database comprising points of interest information extracted from the one or more conventional map database;

a processing unit performing steps comprising;

selecting, based on the setting of the address, an area proximate to the address;

identifying, with reference to the intersection database, intersections within the selected area;

identifying, with reference to the points of interest database, points of interest within the selected area;

ranking each street of the identified intersections according to a first set of criteria if more than one intersection was identified;

ranking the identified intersections, based on a summation of the ranking of each street that comprises the intersection, if more than one intersection was identified;

ranking the identified points of interest according to a second set of criteria if more than one point of interest was identified;

filtering the identified intersections prior to ranking the identified intersections to remove inappropriate intersections;

filtering the identified points of interest prior to ranking the identified points of interest to remove inappropriate points of interest;

identifying a highest ranked intersection if any intersection was identified;

identifying a highest ranked point of interest if any point of interest was identified;

creating a user presentation of the location information corresponding to the address comprising the highest ranked intersection, if any, and the highest ranked point of interest, if any; and

normalizing the user presentation in accordance with an aural user output device, the normalizing comprising replacing abbreviations and numbers with their spoken equivalents based on context; and

the aural user output device delivering the normalized user presentation to the user.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the processing unit is co-located with the user output device.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the processing unit is remotely located from the user output device and communicates wirelessly with the user output device.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the second set of criteria is adjusted based on the user'"'"'s expected familiarity with types of points of interest.