Method and apparatus for processing spoken search queries

• US 8,666,963 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2012
• Issued: 03/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Sejnoha, Vladimir, Ganong, William F. III, Vozila, Paul J., Bodenstab, Nathan M., Tam, Yik-Cheung
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHONG H
• Application Number:
  US13/527,500
• Publication Number:
  US 20120259636A1
• Time in Patent Office: 623 Days
• Field of Search: 707/707, 707/759, 707/760, 707/767, 707/810
• US Class Current: 707/707
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90332 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems

Abstract

Some embodiments relate to a method of performing a search for content on the Internet, in which a user may speak a search query and speech recognition may be performed on the spoken query to generate a text search query to be provided to a plurality of search engines. This enables a user to speak the search query rather than having to type it, and also allows the user to provide the search query only once, rather than having to provide it separately to multiple different search engines.

Claims

1. A method, implemented at least in part on at least one hardware computer processor, of performing a search for content on the Internet, the method comprising:

receiving voice input provided from a user;

generating at least one text search query for a plurality of Internet-accessible search engines that search for content on the Internet, wherein the at least one text search query is generated, at least in part, by performing speech recognition on the voice input using at least one language model; and

periodically updating the at least one language model based on frequently searched terms,

wherein the at least one text search query comprises at least two text search queries, and

wherein the act of generating further comprises;

generating a first of the at least two text search queries, at least in part, by performing speech recognition on the voice input using a first language model associated with a first of the plurality of search engines; and

generating a second of the at least two text search queries, at least in part, by performing speech recognition on the voice input using a second language model associated with a second of the plurality of search engines.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

issuing the first of the at least two text speech queries to the first of the plurality of search engines; and

issuing the second of the at least two text speech queries to the second of the plurality of search engines.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first of the at least two text search queries is different from the second of the at least two text search queries.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of generating further comprises:

selecting one of a plurality of available language models to be used in performing automatic speech recognition on the voice input; and

performing automatic speech recognition on the voice input using the selected one of the plurality of language models.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the act of selecting further comprises:

selecting the one of a plurality of available language models to be used in performing automatic speech recognition on the voice input based, at least in part, on the content of the voice input.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

updating the at least one language model based on the user'"'"'s previous selection of search results.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of Internet-accessible search engines each returns results selected from the group consisting of web pages hosted on one or more web sites or domains, content hosted on one or more web sites or domains, and hyperlinks to web pages and/or content hosted on one or more web sites or domains.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first language model is different from the second language model.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first language model and the second language model are the same.

10. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by at least one hardware computer processor, cause the at least one hardware computer processor to perform a method of performing a search for content on the Internet, the method comprising:

receiving voice input provided from a user;

generating at least one text search query for a plurality of Internet-accessible search engines that search for content on the Internet, wherein the at least one text search query is generated, at least in part, by performing speech recognition on the voice input using at least one language model; and

periodically updating the at least one language model based on frequently searched terms, wherein the at least one text search query comprises at least two text search queries, and wherein the act of generating further comprises;

generating a first of the at least two text search queries, at least in part, by performing speech recognition on the voice input using a first language model associated with a first of the plurality of search engines; and

generating a second of the at least two text search queries, at least in part, by performing speech recognition on the voice input using a second language model associated with a second of the plurality of search engines.

11. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

issuing the first of the at least two text speech queries to the first of the plurality of search engines; and

issuing the second of the at least two text speech queries to the second of the plurality of search engines.

12. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the first of the at least two text search queries is different from the second of the at least two text search queries.

13. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the act of generating further comprises:

selecting one of a plurality of available language models to be used in performing automatic speech recognition on the voice input; and

performing automatic speech recognition on the voice input using the selected one of the plurality of language models.

14. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the act of selecting further comprises:

selecting the one of a plurality of available language models to be used in performing automatic speech recognition on the voice input based, at least in part, on the content of the voice input.

15. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

updating the at least one language model based on the user'"'"'s previous selection of search results.

16. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the plurality of Internet-accessible search engines each returns results selected from the group consisting of web pages hosted on one or more web sites or domains, content hosted on one or more web sites or domains, and hyperlinks to web pages and/or content hosted on one or more web sites or domains.

17. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the first language model is different from the second language model.

18. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the first language model and the second language model are the same.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor-executable instructions cause the at least one hardware processor to generate the at least one text search query by:

selecting one of a plurality of available language models to be used in performing automatic speech recognition on the voice input; and

performing automatic speech recognition on the voice input using the selected one of the plurality of language models.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the processor executable instructions cause the at least one hardware processor to select the one of the plurality of available language models by:

selecting the one of a plurality of available language models to be used in performing automatic speech recognition on the voice input based, at least in part, on the content of the voice input.

19. A system comprising:

at least one hardware computer processor; and

at least one tangible memory that stores processor-executable instructions for performing a search for content via the Internet that, when executed by the at least one hardware computer processor, cause the at least one hardware computer processor to;

receive voice input provided from a user;

generate at least one text search query for a plurality of Internet-accessible search engines that search for content on the Internet, wherein the at least one text search query is generated, at least in part, by performing speech recognition on the voice input using at least one language model; and

periodically update the at least one language model based on frequently searched terms,

wherein the at least one text search query comprises at least two text search queries, and

wherein the processor executable instructions cause the at least one hardware processor to generate the at least two text search queries by;

generating a first of the at least two text search queries, at least in part, by performing speech recognition on the voice input using a first language model associated with a first of the plurality of search engines; and

generating a second of the at least two text search queries, at least in part, by performing speech recognition on the voice input using a second language model associated with a second of the plurality of search engines.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor-executable instructions cause the at least one hardware computer processor to:

issue the first of the at least two text speech queries to the first of the plurality of search engines; and

issue the second of the at least two text speech queries to the second of the plurality of search engines.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the first of the at least two text search queries is different from the second of the at least two text search queries.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor-executable instructions cause the at least one hardware processor to:

update the at least one language model based on the user'"'"'s previous selection of search results.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein the plurality of Internet-accessible search engines each returns results selected from the group consisting of web pages hosted on one or more web sites or domains, content hosted on one or more web sites or domains, and hyperlinks to web pages and/or content hosted on one or more web sites or domains.

26. The system of claim 19, wherein the first language model is different from the second language model.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein the first language model and the second language model are the same.