Resolving pronoun ambiguity in voice queries
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
- receiving a voice query that includes a pronoun;
determining a stress score for the pronoun that reflects an extent to which the pronoun was stressed in the voice query;
identifying two or more candidate entities that are associated with two or more answers that a search engine generates for two or more corresponding voice queries that preceded the voice query;
selecting, as a particular entity, (i) an entity associated with an answer that the search engine generates for an immediately preceding voice query when the stress score satisfies a predetermined threshold, or (ii) an entity associated with an answer that is generated for a voice query that is not the immediately preceding voice query when the stress score does not satisfy the predetermined threshold;
revising the received voice query to refer to the particular entity that was selected based at least on the comparison of the stress score to the predetermined threshold; and
providing one or more query results that are responsive to the revised voice query for output on a client device.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for resolving ambiguity in received voice queries. An original voice query is received following one or more earlier voice queries, wherein the original voice query includes a pronoun or phrase. In one implementation, a plurality of acoustic parameters is identified for one or more words in the original voice query. A concept represented by the pronoun is identified based on the plurality of acoustic parameters, wherein the concept is associated with a particular query of the one or more earlier queries. The concept is associated with the pronoun. Alternatively, a concept may be associated with a phrase by using grammatical analysis of the query to relate the phrase to a concept derived from a prior query.
30 Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
-
receiving a voice query that includes a pronoun; determining a stress score for the pronoun that reflects an extent to which the pronoun was stressed in the voice query; identifying two or more candidate entities that are associated with two or more answers that a search engine generates for two or more corresponding voice queries that preceded the voice query; selecting, as a particular entity, (i) an entity associated with an answer that the search engine generates for an immediately preceding voice query when the stress score satisfies a predetermined threshold, or (ii) an entity associated with an answer that is generated for a voice query that is not the immediately preceding voice query when the stress score does not satisfy the predetermined threshold; revising the received voice query to refer to the particular entity that was selected based at least on the comparison of the stress score to the predetermined threshold; and providing one or more query results that are responsive to the revised voice query for output on a client device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
4. A system comprising:
one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computes to perform operations comprising; receiving a voice query that includes a pronoun; determining a stress score for the pronoun that reflects an extent to which the pronoun was stressed in the voice query; identifying two or more candidate entities that are associated with two or more answers that a search engine generates for two or more corresponding voice queries that preceded the voice query; selecting, as a particular entity, (i) an entity associated with an answer that the search engine generates for an immediately preceding voice query when the stress score satisfies a predetermined threshold, or (ii) an entity associated with an answer that is generated for a voice query that is not the immediately preceding voice query when the stress score does not satisfy the predetermined threshold; revising the received voice query to refer to the particular entity that was selected based on the comparison of the stress score to the predetermined threshold; and providing one or more query results that are responsive to the revised voice query for output on a client device. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 13, 14, 15)
-
7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software comprising instructions executable by one or more computers which, upon such execution, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
-
receiving a voice query that includes a pronoun; determining a stress score for the pronoun that reflects an extent to which the pronoun was stressed in the voice query; identifying two or more candidate entities that are associated with two or more answers that a search engine generates for two or more corresponding voice queries that preceded the voice query; selecting, as a particular entity, (i) an entity associated with an answer that the search engine generates for an immediately preceding voice query when the stress score satisfies a predetermined threshold, or (ii) an entity associated with an answer that is generated for a voice query that is not the immediately preceding voice query when the stress score does not satisfy the predetermined threshold; and revising the received voice query to refer to the particular entity that was selected based on the comparison of the stress score to the predetermined threshold; and providing one or more query results that are responsive to the revised voice query for output on a client device. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 16, 17, 18)
-
Specification