Method for enhancing dictation and command discrimination

• US 20040216049A1
• Filed: 05/20/2004
• Published: 10/28/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lewis, James R., Ortega, Kerry A.
• Application Number:
  US10/849,663
• Publication Number:
  US 20040216049A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/531
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/24 Speech recognition using non-acoustical features
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/227 of the speaker; Human-factor methodology
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context

Abstract

A method for discriminating between an instance of a voice command and an instance of speech dictation can include identifying a focus point in a user interface; defining a surrounding region about the focus point; identifying user interface objects in the surrounding region; further identifying among the identified user interface objects those user interface objects which are configured to accept speech dictated text and those user interface objects which are not configured to accept speech dictated text; computing a probability based upon those user interface objects which have been further identified as being configured to accept speech dictated text and those user interface objects which have been further identified as not being configured to accept speech dictated text; receiving speech input; and, biasing a determination of whether the speech input is a voice command or speech dictation based upon the computed probability.

Claims

1. A method for searching for matching text in an electronic document comprising:

identifying a focus point in a user interface;

defining a surrounding region about said focus point said surrounding region including a body of text within a user interface object configured to receive speech dictated text, wherein said body of text is a subset of displayed text contained within the electronic document;

receiving a voice command for selecting specified text within the electronic document; and

searching said body of text included in the surrounding region for a match to said specified text, said searching limited to said body of text in said surrounding region.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if a match to said specified text is not found in said body of text in said searching step, expanding said surrounding region to include an additional area of said user interface, said additional area including additional text; and

searching said additional text for a match to said specified text, said searching limited to said body of text and said additional text.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said expanding step comprises:

expanding said surrounding region outwardly from said focus point by a fixed increment.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said expanding step comprises:

expanding said surrounding region by a fixed quantity of text adjacent to said body of text.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said expanding step comprises:

expanding said surrounding region outwardly from said focus point by a variable increment.

6. A machine readable storage having stored thereon a computer program for searching for matching text in an electronic document, said computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

identifying a focus point in a user interface;

defining a surrounding region about said focus point said surrounding region including a body of text within a user interface object configured to receive speech dictated text, wherein said body of text is a subset of displayed text contained within the electronic document;

receiving a voice command for selecting specified text within the electronic document; and

searching said body of text included in the surrounding region for a match to said specified text, said searching limited to said body of text in said surrounding region.

7. The machine readable storage of claim 6, further comprising:

if a match to said specified text is not found in said body of text in said searching step, expanding said surrounding region to include an additional area of said user interface, said additional area including additional text; and

searching said additional text for a match to said specified text, said searching limited to said body of text and said additional text.

8. The machine readable storage of claim 7, wherein said expanding step comprises:

expanding said surrounding region outwardly from said focus point by a fixed increment.

9. The machine readable storage of claim 7, wherein said expanding step comprises:

expanding said surrounding region by a fixed quantity of text adjacent to said body of text.

10. The machine readable storage of claim 7, wherein said expanding step comprises:

expanding said surrounding region outwardly from said focus point by a variable increment.

11. A speech recognition method comprising the step of:

receiving a speech input;

determining from said speech input a voice command for selecting specified text within an electronic document;

visually presenting said electronic document within an application displayed in a graphic user interface;

identifying a focus point within said application using eye-tracking technology;

defining a text region within said electronic document surrounding said focus point, wherein said text region contains a subset of the text displayed within the electronic document; and

searching said text region for a match to said specified text, said search limited to said text region.

12. The method of claim 11, said defining step further comprising defining said text region by a fixed quantity of text about said focus point.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of:

if a match to said specified text is not found in said searching step, expanding said text region to include additional text.

14. The method of claim 11, said determining step further comprising the steps of:

defining an interface object region within said application surrounding said focus point;

identifying applications objects within said interface object region that include presented electronic documents; and

calculating a probability that said speech input includes a voice command for selecting text based at least in part upon said identifying of application objects.

15. A machine readable storage having stored thereon a computer program for searching for matching text in an electronic document, said computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

receiving a speech input;

determining from said speech input a voice command for selecting specified text within an electronic document;

visually presenting said electronic document within an application displayed in a graphic user interface;

identifying a focus point within said application using eye-tracking technology;

defining a text region within said electronic document surrounding said focus point, wherein said text region contains a subset of the text displayed within the electronic document; and

searching said text region for a match to said specified text, said search limited to said text region.

16. The machine readable storage of claim 15, said defining step further comprising defining said text region by a fixed quantity of text about said focus point.

17. The machine readable storage of claim 15, further comprising the step of:

if a match to said specified text is not found in said searching step, expanding said text region to include additional text.

18. The machine readable storage of claim 15, said determining step further comprising the steps of:

defining an interface object region within said application surrounding said focus point;

identifying applications objects within said interface object region that include presented electronic documents; and

calculating a probability that said speech input includes a voice command for selecting text based at least in part upon said identifying of application objects.