System and method for speech enabled application
First Claim
1. A computer system for identifying the implied meaning behind a plurality of predetermined different valid spoken utterances in a grammar, said system comprising:
- a. a central processing unit (CPU);
b. a system memory coupled to said CPU for receiving and storing memory files and applications files;
c. an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system coupled to said CPU comprising a speech recognizer coupled to receive spoken utterances and for producing valid utterances as an output as digital characters in word format;
d. a vendor specific automatic speech recognition (ASR) grammar stored in said system memory for cortrolling the output of said ASR system to provide said predetermined valid spoken utterances;
e. an interactive voice response (IVR) system coupled to said speech recognizer for receiving and processing said digital characters and words from said ASR;
f. runtime interpreter means stored in said system memory and coupled to said IVR system and said CPU for receiving from said IVR system said digital characters and words representative of said valid spoken utterances;
g. an annotated automatic speech recognition (ASR) corpus file, stored in said memory which contains a listing of all valid spoken utterances in said grammar and associated token data stored in said memory representing the implied meaning behind each said listed valid utterance; and
h. said runtime interpreter means comprising a runtime interpreter coupled between said ASR corpus file and said IVR system for receiving valid spoken utterances and searching said ASR corpus file for a match and for returning said token data representing said valid spoken utterance to said IVR system for a prompt or a response.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is a computer apparatus and method for adding speech interpreting capabilities to an interactive voice response system. An annotated corpus is used to list valid utterances within a grammar along with token data for each valid utterance representing the meaning implied behind the valid utterance. When valid utterances are detected, the interactive voice response system requests that a search is made through the annotated corpus to find the token identified with the valid utterance. This token is returned to the interactive voice response system. If the valid utterance included a variable, additional processing is performed to interpret the variable and return additional data representing the variable.
135 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A computer system for identifying the implied meaning behind a plurality of predetermined different valid spoken utterances in a grammar, said system comprising:
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a. a central processing unit (CPU); b. a system memory coupled to said CPU for receiving and storing memory files and applications files; c. an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system coupled to said CPU comprising a speech recognizer coupled to receive spoken utterances and for producing valid utterances as an output as digital characters in word format; d. a vendor specific automatic speech recognition (ASR) grammar stored in said system memory for cortrolling the output of said ASR system to provide said predetermined valid spoken utterances; e. an interactive voice response (IVR) system coupled to said speech recognizer for receiving and processing said digital characters and words from said ASR; f. runtime interpreter means stored in said system memory and coupled to said IVR system and said CPU for receiving from said IVR system said digital characters and words representative of said valid spoken utterances; g. an annotated automatic speech recognition (ASR) corpus file, stored in said memory which contains a listing of all valid spoken utterances in said grammar and associated token data stored in said memory representing the implied meaning behind each said listed valid utterance; and h. said runtime interpreter means comprising a runtime interpreter coupled between said ASR corpus file and said IVR system for receiving valid spoken utterances and searching said ASR corpus file for a match and for returning said token data representing said valid spoken utterance to said IVR system for a prompt or a response. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A speech enabled computer system, comprising:
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a. a CPU; b. a system memory coupled to said CPU; c. a vendor-specific automatic speech recognition (ASR) grammar file stored in said system memory; d. an automatic speech recognition system, coupled to said ASR grammar file in said CPU, for detecting predetermined valid spoken utterances and for generating as an output characters and words in digital format, e. an annotated ASR corpus file, stored in said system memory, containing a listing of all predetermined valid utterances and token data representing the implied meaning of each listed valid utterance; f. runtime interpreter means coupled to said annotated ASR corpus file and said CPU for searching through the contents of said annotated ASR corpus file to find token data representing the implied meaning of said detected valid spoken utterance; g. said runtime interpreter means comprising a custom processor interface (CP), coupled to said CPU, for accessing aid corpus file; h. a runtime interpreter application program interface (RIAPI), coupled to said CP; and i. an interactive voice response system (IVR), coupled to said RIAPI and said ASR system, wherein said IVR issues requests to said RIAPI to search the contents of said annotated ASR corpus file and return token data representing the implied meaning of said valid spoken utterance detected by said ASR system.
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11. A method for identifying the implied meaning behind a valid spoken utterance in a grammar, comprising the steps of:
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a. loading an annotated ASR corpus file into a computer system memory, where said annotated ASR corpus file contains a listing of all various possible valid utterances in said grammar, as well as an associated token data for each of said listed valid utterances representing the implied meaning behind said valid utterances; b. converting valid spoken utterances to digital requests; c. receiving a request at an IVR to search said annotated ASR corpus file for the occurrence of a detected valid utterance; d. performing a first search through said loaded annotated ASR corpus file in said system memory to find a said valid utterance using a runtime interpreter; and e. returning token data corresponding to said detected valid utterance in said loaded annotated ASR corpus file to said sender of said request. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer system for identifying an implied meaning behind a plurality of different valid spoken utterances in a grammar and generating prompts and replies, said system comprising:
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a) a central processing unit (CPU); b) a system memory coupled to said CPU for receiving memory files and application files; c) an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system coupled to receive said spoken utterances and for producing digital characters and words as an output; d) a recognizer complier in said (ASR) system for establishing said plurality of valid spoken utterances as said ASR system output; e) a vendor specific grammar in said CPU coupled to said ASR system; f) an interactive voice response (IVR) system coupled to said automatic speech recognizer for receiving and processing said digital characters and words; g) runtime interpreter means stored in said system memory of said CPU and coupled to said IVR system for receiving from said IVR system said digital characters and words representative of said valid spoken utterances; h) an annotated automatic speech recognition (ASR) corpus file coupled to said runtime interpreter means and comprising a listing of all valid spoken utterances in a grammar format and associated token data representing the meaning behind each of said listed utterances; and i) said runtime interpreter means being coupled between said ASR corpus file and said IVR systems for searching said ASR corpus file for a match and returning said associated token data to said IVR system to enable a prompt or a reply to said spoken utterances. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A natural language (NL) system for understanding the meaning behind sequences of predetermined different spoken words, said system having a central processor with a system memory for receiving and storing memory files and application files, said application files including an automatic speech recognition ASR system having a speech recognition (SR) grammar for recognizing valid spoken utterances, said NL system being characterized by;
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an interactive voice response (IVR) system coupled to said ASR system for receiving predetermined valid spoken utterances recognized by said ASR system, an ASR corpus file containing all combinations of valid spoken utterance recognizable by said ASR system and token data which represents the meaning behind each sequence of valid spoken utterances, a runtime interpreter coupled between said IVR system and said ASR corpus file for searching said corpus file to find a matching valid utterance for each said spoken valid utterance, and for obtaining said token data associated with said matching valid utterance, and for returning said token data to said IVR to enable said IVR to generate a voice responsive prompt or a reply to said valid spoken utterance.
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Specification