Voice activated controller for recording and retrieving audio/video programs

• US 6,643,620 B1
• Filed: 03/15/1999
• Issued: 11/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Junqua, Jean-Claude, Contolini, Matteo, Kuhn, Roland
• Primary Examiner(s): Knepper, David D.
• Application Number:
  US09/270,262
• Time in Patent Office: 1,695 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/275, 704/257, 707/3, 707/104.1, 384/96, 384/97
• US Class Current: 704/270
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2516 Hard disks
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2545 CDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/41 Flat as opposed to hierarchical combination, e.g. library of tapes or discs, CD changer, or groups of record carriers that together store one title
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/455 said record carriers being in one device and being used as primary and secondary/backup media, e.g. HDD-DVD combo device, or as source and target media, e.g. PC and portable player
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/65 wherein solid state memory is used for storing indexing information or metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/90 Tape-like record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/002 Programmed access in sequence to a plurality of record carriers or indexed parts, e.g. tracks, thereof, e.g. for editing; transfer of record carriers from magazine G11B15/68, G11B17/10; G11B17/22
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/107 of operating tapes
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/11 by using information not detectable on the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/36 Monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing for digital recording G11B20/00 and s.gr.; for monitoring, testing or measuring of TV recorders of the type covered by H04N5/76 and subgroups, see H04N17/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42203 sound input device, e.g. microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440236 by media transcoding, e.g. video is transformed into a slideshow of still pictures, audio is converted into text
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8405 represented by keywords
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 : on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 : on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 : on discs or drums

Abstract

The system includes a database of program records representing A/V programs which are available for recording. The system also includes an A/V recording device for receiving a recording command and recording the A/V program. A speech recognizer is provided for receiving the spoken request and translating the spoken request into a text stream having a plurality of words. A natural language processor receives the text stream and processes the words for resolving a semantic content of the spoken request. The natural language processor places the meaning of the words into a task frame having a plurality of key word slots. A dialogue system analyzes the task frame for determining if a sufficient number of key word slots have been filled and prompts the user for additional information for filling empty slots. The dialogue system searches the database of program records using the key words placed within the task frame for selecting the A/V program and generating the recording command for use by the A/V recording device.

Claims

1. A method of managing the storing and retrieving of an A/V program stored at an identified location, comprising:

obtaining first information about an A/V program from a user;

obtaining second information about said A/V program automatically from a source of electronic program guide information;

using said first and second information to define text information;

associating in a database said text information with an identified location of said A/V program;

using said text information to dynamically generate a vocabulary;

receiving a spoken request utterance from the user;

processing said utterance using an automatic speech recognition system which utilizes said dynamically generated vocabulary to generate request text;

processing said request text using a natural language parser to extract at least one keyword from said request text;

using said at least one extracted keyword to query said database and to thereby identify for storing or retrieving an A/V program having associated text information that corresponds to said extracted keyword.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said first information is obtained by receiving a spoken utterance from the user.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said first information is obtained by manual manipulation of an input device by the user.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising using a dialogue manager to create recording request records that are stored in said database.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said database stores electronic program guide records associated with future A/V programs and wherein said dialogue manager uses said stored recording request records to search said future electronic program guide records to identify A/V programs to be recorded.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of parsing said request text using a grammar that identifies a plurality of task frames.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of parsing said request text using a grammar that identifies a plurality of task frames associated with at least one of the following actions:

recording, playback and library record management.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising controlling the recording function of an A/V recording apparatus based on said at least one extracted keyword.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said controlling step is performed using wireless communication.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising controlling the playback function of an A/V playback apparatus based on said at least one extracted keyword.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said controlling step is performed using wireless communication.