System and method for providing a natural language content dedication service

• US 9,502,025 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2010
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VB Assets, LLC
• Original Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Kennewick, Mike, Armstrong, Lynn Elise
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayes, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): HALE, TIM B
• Application Number:
  US12/943,699
• Publication Number:
  US 20110112921A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,204 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/18 using natural language modelling

Abstract

The system and method described herein may provide a natural language content dedication service in a voice services environment. In particular, providing the natural language content dedication service may generally include detecting multi-modal device interactions that include requests to dedicate content, identifying the content requested for dedication from natural language utterances included in the multi-modal device interactions, processing transactions for the content requested for dedication, processing natural language to customize the content for recipients of the dedications, and delivering the customized content to the recipients of the dedications.

Claims

1. A system for providing a natural language content dedication service, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transitory computer readable mediums storing executable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to;

receive a first utterance that includes a natural language utterance;

determine, based on processing of the first utterance by a speech recognition engine, one or more words or phrases of the first utterance;

provide the one or more words or phrases as an input to a conversational language processor;

interpret the first utterance, at the conversational language processor, based on the one or more words or phrases;

identify, based on the interpretation of the first utterance, content to dedicate to a recipient;

initiate, based on the identified content, a dedication to the recipient;

receive a second utterance to be associated with the dedication;

determine, based on a processing of the second utterance by the speech recognition engine, one or more words or phrases of the second utterance;

provide the one or more words or phrases of the second utterance as textual annotations within metadata of the content; and

send information to enable the recipient to access the content and the second utterance.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to provide an image as one or more tags within metadata of the content.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to annotate the content with the second utterance.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to purchase the content from a content provider to enable the recipient to access the content.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

identify, for the dedication, a purchase option that includes one or more of a buy-to-own purchase option, a pay-to-play purchase option, or a paid subscription purchase option; and

bill a user associated with the first utterance based on the purchase option.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

send, to the recipient, an electronic link to access the content as the information to enable the recipient to access the content; and

send, to the recipient, the second utterance in an encoded audio format as the information to enable the recipient to access the second utterance.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the content includes one or more of a song or a video.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

determine that a user is interacting with a media item; and

identify, based on the natural language processing and the interaction of the user with the media item, the media item as the content to dedicate to the recipient.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

determine a media item that a user is playing;

determine that the user provided the first utterance during the playing of the media item by the user; and

identify, based on the natural language processing and the determination that the user provided the first utterance during the playing of the media item, the media item as the content to dedicate to the recipient.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to provide an electronic link associated with the content as one or more tags within metadata of the content.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to provide a voice tag as one or more tags within metadata of the content.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to provide the second utterance within the content.

8. A method for providing a natural language content dedication service, the method being implemented in a computer system having one or more processors programmed with computer program instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to perform the method, the method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, a first utterance that includes a natural language utterance;

determining, by the one or more processors, one or more words or phrases of the first utterance based on processing of the first utterance by a speech recognition engine;

providing, by the one or more processors, the one or more words or phrases as an input to a conversational language processor;

interpreting, by the one or more processors, the first utterance, at the conversational language processor, based on the one or more words or phrases;

identifying, by the one or more processors, content to dedicate to a recipient based on the interpretation of the first utterance;

initiating, by the one or more processors, a dedication to the recipient based on the identified content;

receiving, by the one or more processors, a second utterance to be associated with the dedication;

determining, by the one or more processors, one or more words or phrases of the second utterance based on a processing of the second utterance by the speech recognition engine;

providing, by the one or more processors, the one or more words or phrases of the second utterance as textual annotations within metadata of the content; and

sending, by the one or more processors, information to enable the recipient to access the content and the second utterance.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising providing an image as one or more tags within metadata of the content.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising annotating the content with the second utterance.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising purchasing the content from a content provider to enable the recipient to access the content.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

identifying, for the dedication, a purchase option that includes one or more of a buy-to-own purchase option, a pay-to-play purchase option, or a paid subscription purchase option; and

billing a user associated with the first utterance based on the purchase option.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

sending, to the recipient, an electronic link to access the content as the information to enable the recipient to access the content; and

sending, to the recipient, the second utterance in an encoded audio format as the information to enable the recipient to access the second utterance.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the content includes one or more of a song or a video.