Natural language processing for a location-based services system

• US 20020161587A1
• Filed: 04/25/2002
• Published: 10/31/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ashton F. Pitts III, Steve L. Dempsen, Vinny Wai-Yan Che
• Original Assignee: Accenture LLP (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Che, Vinny Wai-yan, Pitts, Ashton F. III, Dempsen, Steve L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,437,295 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/276
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24522 Translation of natural language queries to structured queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3344 using natural language analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/15 Information service where the information is dependent on the location of the subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42204 Arrangements at the exchange for service or number selection by voice at the terminal H04M1/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4936 Speech interaction details speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 : Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/23 : for mobile advertising

Abstract

A method and system for providing natural language processing in a communication system is disclosed. A voice request is generated with a remote terminal that is transmitted to a base station. A voice recognition application is then used to identify a plurality of words that are contained in the voice request. After the words are identified, a grammar associated with each word is also identified. Once the grammars have been identified, each word is categorized into a respective grammar category. A structured response is then generated to the voice request with a response generation application.

Claims

1. A method of providing natural language processing in a communication system, comprising the steps of:

generating a voice request with a remote terminal;

transmitting said voice request to a base station;

identifying a plurality of words contained in said voice request with a voice recognition application;

identifying a grammar associated with each said word;

categorizing each said word into a respective grammar category; and

generating a structured response to said voice request with a response generation application.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating a structured request based on said categorization of said words.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of searching for matches to said structured request in a database of products with said response generation application.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of narrowing said structured response to a geographic area in which said remote terminal is located.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said voice request contains a request for a particular product.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the grammar is selected from a group of grammars consisting of a noun, an adjective, an adverb, a preposition, a conjunction, a pronoun, a verb and an interjection.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said structured response is generated as a voice response.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said structured response is generated as a text message.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprises the step of transmitting said structured response to said remote terminal.

10. A wireless communication system with natural language processing, comprising:

a remote terminal connected to a base station, wherein a user of said remote terminal is capable of generating a voice request that is transmitted to said base station;

a voice recognition application connected to said base station, wherein said voice recognition application identifies a plurality of words contained in said voice request;

a natural language processing application connected to said voice recognition application, wherein said natural language processing application generates a structured request based on the words contained in said voice request; and

a response generation application connected to said natural language processing application for generating a structured response to said structured request.

11. The wireless communication system of claim 10, further comprising a voice synthesis application connected to said response generation application for transforming said structured response into a voice response.

12. The wireless communication system of claim 10, wherein said natural language processing application categorizes the words contained in said voice request into a respective one of a plurality of grammar categories.

13. The wireless communication system of claim 12, wherein said words in said grammar categories are used by said response generation application to locate a product identified in said voice request.

14. The wireless communication system of claim 10, wherein said voice request contains a request for a particular product.

15. The wireless communication system of claim 10, wherein said response generation application searches for matches in a product database to generate said structured response.

16. The wireless communication system of claim 10, wherein said structured response is generated as a text message that is sent to said remote terminal.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of generating a structured request based on said categorization of said words.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of searching for matches to said structured request in a database of products with said response generation application.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein said voice request contains a request for a particular product.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the grammar is selected from a group of grammars consisting of a noun, an adjective, an adverb, a preposition, a conjunction, a pronoun, a verb and an interjection.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein said structured response is generated as a voice response.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein said structured response is generated as a text message.

24. The method of claim 17 further comprises the step of transmitting said structured response to said remote terminal.

17. A method of providing natural language processing in a location-based services system, comprising the steps of:

generating a voice request with a remote terminal;

transmitting said voice request to a base station;

identifying a plurality of words contained in said voice request with a voice recognition application;

identifying a grammar associated with each said word;

categorizing each said word into a respective grammar category;

determining the geographic location of said remote terminal; and

generating a structured response to said voice request with a response generation application that is within a predetermined geographic location of said remote terminal.