SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENHANCING SPEECH RECOGNITION ACCURACY

• US 20160133250A1
• Filed: 11/07/2014
• Published: 05/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: CZAHOR, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,741,340 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/19 Grammatical context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word sequence rules
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/227 of the speaker; Human-factor methodology
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and computer-readable media for enhancing speech recognition accuracy. The method includes dividing a system dialog turn into segments based on timing of probable user responses, generating a weighted grammar for each segment, exclusively activating the weighted grammar generated for a current segment of the dialog turn during the current segment of the dialog turn, and recognizing user speech received during the current segment using the activated weighted grammar generated for the current segment. The method can further include assigning probability to the weighted grammar based on historical user responses and activating each weighted grammar is based on the assigned probability. Weighted grammars can be generated based on a user profile. A weighted grammar can be generated for two or more segments. Exclusively activating each weighted grammar can include a transition period blending the previously activated grammar and the grammar to be activated.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying, via a processor, segments of a dialog system based on probable user responses;

activating a weighted grammar for a segment of dialog in the dialog system during the segment, to yield an activated weighted grammar; and

recognizing user speech received during the segment of the dialog using the activated weighted grammar.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the segments of the dialog system are further identified based on a timing of the probable user responses.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning a probability to the weighted grammar based on historical user responses and activating the weighted grammar based on the probability.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising weighting a grammar based on an expected probable user response, to yield the weighted grammar.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein exclusively activating the weighted grammar further comprises initiating a transition period blending a previously activated grammar and the weighted grammar to be activated.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the weighted grammar is weighted based on a user profile.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein two identified segments are associated with the weighted grammar.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting a menu to a user using the dialog system prior to receiving the user speech.

9. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed on the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

identifying segments of a dialog system based on probable user responses;

activating a weighted grammar for a segment of dialog in the dialog system during the segment, to yield an activated weighted grammar; and

recognizing user speech received during the segment of the dialog using the activated weighted grammar.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the segments of the dialog system are further identified based on a timing of the probable user responses.

11. The system of claim 9, the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, result in operations comprising assigning a probability to the weighted grammar based on historical user responses and activating the weighted grammar based on the probability.

12. The system of claim 9, the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, result in operations comprising weighting a grammar based on an expected probable user response.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein exclusively activating the weighted grammar further comprises initiating a transition period blending a previously activated grammar and the weighted grammar to be activated.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the weighted grammar is weighted based on a user profile.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein two identified segments are associated with the weighted grammar.

16. The system of claim 9, the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, result in operations comprising presenting a menu to a user using the dialog system prior to receiving the user speech.

17. A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

identifying segments of a dialog system based on probable user responses;

activating a weighted grammar for a segment of dialog in the dialog system during the segment, to yield an activated weighted grammar; and

recognizing user speech received during the segment of the dialog using the activated weighted grammar.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the segments of the dialog system are further identified based on a timing of the probable user responses.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the computing device, result in operations comprising assigning a probability to the weighted grammar based on historical user responses and activating the weighted grammar based on the probability.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the computing device, result in operations comprising weighting a grammar based on an expected probable user response, to yield the weighted grammar.