METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR VOICED-ENABLING A WEB APPLICATION

• US 20140040746A1
• Filed: 08/02/2012
• Published: 02/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Reich, David E., Hardy, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 9,292,253 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/728
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for voice-enabling a web application, wherein the web application includes one or more web pages rendered by a web browser on a computer. At least one information source external to the web application is queried to determine whether information describing a set of one or more supported voice interactions for the web application is available, and in response to determining that the information is available, the information is retrieved from the at least one information source. Voice input for the web application is then enabled based on the retrieved information.

Claims

1. At least one server computer, comprising:

at least one storage device storing a set of information that specifies a set of voice interactions for at least one web application; and

a communication interface configured to;

receive from a client computer, via at least one network, a request for at least some of the set of information; and

provide, via the at least one network, the at least some of the set of information to the client computer in response to the request.

2. The at least one server computer of claim 1, wherein the communication interface is further configured to:

receive updated information describing a set of supported voice interactions for a web application; and

store the updated information on the at least one storage device.

3. The at least one server computer of claim 2, further comprising at least one processor programmed to:

determine whether first information describing a set of supported voice interactions for the web application corresponding to the updated information existed on the at least one storage device prior to receiving the updated information; and

wherein storing the updated information comprises replacing the first information with the updated information in response to determining that the first information existed on the at least one storage device.

4. The at least one server computer of claim 1, wherein the set of information specifies a set of voice interactions for a plurality of web applications.

5. The at least one server computer of claim 1, wherein the set of information comprises one or more data structures, wherein at least one of the one or more data structures describes a set of voice interactions for a web application.

6. The at least one server computer of claim 5, wherein the at least one of the one or more data structures is an XML document.

7. The at least one server computer of claim 1, wherein the request includes information identifying a web application, and wherein the at least one server computer further comprises at least one processor programmed to:

determine, from information in a data structure stored on the at least one storage device, whether the set of voice interactions includes information describing at least one voice interaction for the web application; and

send to the client computer, using the at least one communication interface, an indication that the web application is not supported for voice enablement in response to determining that the set of voice interactions does not include the information describing at least one voice interaction for the web application.

8. A method of providing voice interaction information for a web application to a client computer in response to a request for the voice interaction information, the method comprising:

storing, on at least one storage device, a set of information that specifies a set of voice interactions for at least one web application

receiving from the client computer, via at least one network, a request for at least some of the set of information; and

providing, via the at least one network, the at least some of the set of information to the client computer in response to the request.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving updated information describing a set of supported voice interactions for a web application; and

storing the updated information on the at least one storage device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining whether first information describing a set of supported voice interactions for the web application corresponding to the updated information existed on the at least one storage device prior to receiving the updated information; and

wherein storing the updated information comprises replacing the first information with the updated information in response to determining that the first information existed on the at least one storage device.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the set of information specifies a set of voice interactions for a plurality of web applications.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the set of information comprises one or more data structures, wherein at least one of the one or more data structures describes a set of voice interactions for a web application.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one of the one or more data structures is an XML document.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the request includes information identifying a web application, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining, from information in a data structure stored on the at least one storage device, whether the set of voice interactions includes information describing at least one voice interaction for the web application; and

sending to the client computer an indication that the web application is not supported for voice enablement in response to determining that the set of voice interactions does not include the information describing at least one voice interaction for the web application.

15. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with a plurality of instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform a method of providing voice interaction information for a web application to a client computer in response to a request for the voice interaction information, the method comprising:

storing, on at least one storage device, a set of information that specifies a set of voice interactions for at least one web application

receiving from the client computer, via at least one network, a request for at least some of the set of information; and

providing, via the at least one network, the at least some of the set of information to the client computer in response to the request.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving updated information describing a set of supported voice interactions for a web application; and

storing the updated information on the at least one storage device.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether first information describing a set of supported voice interactions for the web application corresponding to the updated information existed on the at least one storage device prior to receiving the updated information; and

wherein storing the updated information comprises replacing the first information with the updated information in response to determining that the first information existed on the at least one storage device.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the set of information specifies a set of voice interactions for a plurality of web applications.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the set of information comprises one or more data structures, wherein at least one of the one or more data structures describes a set of voice interactions for a web application.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the request includes information identifying a web application, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining, from information in a data structure stored on the at least one storage device, whether the set of voice interactions includes information describing at least one voice interaction for the web application; and

sending to the client computer an indication that the web application is not supported for voice enablement in response to determining that the set of voice interactions does not include the information describing at least one voice interaction for the web application.