Voice recognition dialing for alphabetic phone numbers

• US 9,282,176 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2008
• Issued: 03/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ramamoorthy, Venkatesan, Walker, Keith R.
• Primary Examiner(s): BEZUAYEHU, SOLOMON G
• Application Number:
  US12/126,802
• Publication Number:
  US 20080219414A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,846 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.01, 379/88.14, 379/88.03, 455/563
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/271 controlled by voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42204 Arrangements at the exchange for service or number selection by voice at the terminal H04M1/27

Abstract

Systems, methods and media for determining a phone number from a spoken alphabetic phone number are disclosed. Embodiments may include a method for determining a phone number that includes receiving spoken alphanumeric content from a user, the spoken alphanumeric content having one or more alphabetic characters, such as letters, numbers or words. The spoken alphanumeric content may include termination words or separation words in addition to alphabetic characters. The method may also include parsing the received spoken alphanumeric content to determine equivalent numbers for alphabetic characters in the alphanumeric content, such as by parsing spoken received spoken letters, numbers and/or words to determine their equivalent numbers. The method may also include determining the phone number based on the received spoken alphanumeric content and the determined equivalent numbers. Further embodiments may include dialing the determined phone number after determining the phone number.

Claims

1. A method for determining a phone number, the method comprising:

a communication device receiving a request to invoke voice dialing;

the communication device receiving a spoken utterance; and

in response to the spoken utterance matching an alias of one or more aliases saved in the communication device, each of the one or more aliases being associated with a corresponding phone number, a communication device dialing the phone number that corresponds to the matched alias;

or

in response to the spoken utterance not matching any of the one or more aliases;

the communication device parsing alphanumeric content in the spoken utterance to determine equivalent numbers for alphabetic characters in the alphanumeric content;

the communication device determining a phone number based on the alphanumeric content and the determined equivalent numbers; and

the communication device dialing the determined phone number to connect with the determined phone number.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the alphanumeric content comprises at least one individual word and at least two alphabetic characters;

said parsing of the received alphanumeric content comprises;

parsing the alphanumeric content for the at least two characters and converting each of the at least two characters into a corresponding digit of the determined phone number; and

after parsing and converting the at least two characters, parsing the alphanumeric content for the at least one individual word, converting the at least one individual word into text, and converting each of the alphabetic characters of the text into a corresponding digit of the determined phone number; and

said determining the phone number comprises combining the corresponding digits in order in accordance with the spoken utterance.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising instructing the user to re-speak the spoken utterance in response to determining that the determined phone number is incomplete.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the alphanumeric content further comprises one or more separation words, wherein each of the separation words is a word spoken as part of a phone number that does not impact the determined number, and wherein the one or more separation words comprises one of a dash and a hyphen.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the alphanumeric content further comprises at least one termination word indicating that a user has completed speaking a phone number.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

repeating said method for a plurality of different iterations, wherein in at least one of the different iterations, the spoken utterance matches the alias, and wherein in at least one of the different iterations, the spoken utterance does not match any of the one or more aliases.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication device parsing said alphanumeric content is a server computer, and wherein said communication device determining said phone number is a server computer.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the alphanumeric content includes one or more spoken letters, one or more spoken numbers, and one or more spoken words.

7. A computer program product for determining a phone number, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable tangible storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to receive a request to invoke voice dialing;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to receive a spoken utterance;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to determine whether the spoken utterance matches one or more aliases saved in a communication device, each of the one or more aliases being associated with a corresponding phone number;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, responsive to the spoken utterance matching an alias of the one or more aliases, to dial the phone number that corresponds to the matched alias; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, responsive to the spoken utterance not matching any of the one or more aliases, to;

parse alphanumeric content in the spoken utterance to determine equivalent numbers for alphabetic characters in the alphanumeric content;

determine the phone number based on the alphanumeric content and the determined equivalent numbers; and

dial the determined phone number to connect a communication device with the determined phone number.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein:

the alphanumeric content comprises at least one individual word and at least two alphabetic characters;

said program instructions to parse the alphanumeric content;

parse the alphanumeric content for the at least spoken characters and convert each of the at least two characters into a corresponding digit of the determined phone number;

after parsing and converting the at least two characters, parse the alphanumeric content for the at least one individual word, convert the at least one individual word into text, and convert each of the alphabetic characters of the text into a corresponding digit of the determined phone number; and

said program instructions to determine the phone number combine the corresponding digits in order by the spoken utterance.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, to instruct the user to re-speak the spoken utterance in response to determining that the determined phone number is incomplete.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the program instructions to parse the alphanumeric content determine that the alphabetic characters include letters, numbers, and words, and that the alphanumeric content comprises one or more termination words and one or more separation words in addition to one or more alphabetic characters.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the program instructions to parse the alphanumeric content determine that the alphanumeric content comprises one or more separation words, wherein each of the one or more separation words is a word spoken as part of a phone number that does not impact the determined number, and wherein the one or more separation words comprise one of a dash and a hyphen.

12. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the program instructions to parse the alphanumeric content determine that the alphanumeric content comprises at least one termination word, wherein the at least one termination word indicates that a user has completed speaking a phone number.

13. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the program instructions to parse the received alphanumeric content determine that the alphanumeric content includes one or more letters, one or more numbers, and one or more words.

16. A computer system for placing phone calls over a communication network, the computer system comprising:

one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, and one or more computer readable tangible storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to receive a request to invoke voice dialing;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to receive a spoken utterance;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to determine whether the spoken utterance matches one or more aliases saved in a communication device, each of the one or more aliases being associated with a corresponding phone number;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, responsive to the spoken utterance matching an alias of the one or more aliases, to dial the phone number that corresponds to the matched alias; and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, responsive to the spoken utterance not matching any of the one or more aliases, to;

parse alphanumeric content in the spoken utterance to determine equivalent numbers for alphabetic characters in the alphanumeric content;

determine the phone number based on the alphanumeric content and the determined equivalent numbers; and

dial the determined phone number to connect a communication device with the determined phone number.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein:

the alphanumeric content comprises at least one individual word and at least two alphabetic characters;

said program instructions to parse the alphanumeric content;

parse the alphanumeric content for the at least spoken characters and convert each of the at least two characters into a corresponding digit of the determined phone number;

after parsing and converting the at least two characters, parse the alphanumeric content for the at least one individual word, convert the at least one individual word into text, and convert each of the alphabetic characters of the text into a corresponding digit of the determined phone number; and

said program instructions to determine the phone number combine the corresponding digits in order by the spoken utterance.

18. The computer system of claim 16, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, to instruct the user to re-speak the spoken utterance in response to determining that the determined phone number is incomplete.

19. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the program instructions to parse the alphanumeric content determine that the alphabetic characters include letters, numbers, and words, and that the alphanumeric content comprises one or more termination words and one or more separation words in addition to one or more alphabetic characters.