Voice browser apparatus and voice browsing method

• US 7,257,540 B2
• Filed: 04/23/2001
• Issued: 08/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Ikeda, Yuji, Fujii, Kenichi, Ueda, Takaya, Ito, Fumiaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Opsasnick; Michael N.
• Application Number:
  US09/839,309
• Publication Number:
  US 20020010586A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,304 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/275
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/16 Sound input; Sound output speech processing G10L
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML

Abstract

In a voice browser apparatus, an HTML document is obtained from a designated URL, the obtained document is analyzed based on a rule designated from a plurality of rules for defining voice input/output contents to fetch voice output contents, voice input candidates and designation information for designating a next object of processing corresponding to each voice input candidate, and the fetched voice output contents are voice-outputted. Then, the voice input from a user for this output is voice-recognized, and controls obtainment of a new document and next analysis based on designation information corresponding to the input candidate matching the recognition result. Thereby, contents for the graphical user interface can easily be browsed using voice input/output.

Claims

1. A document processing apparatus comprising:

document obtaining means for obtaining a document written in a predetermined markup language from a designated source;

rule identification information extraction means for extracting a first attribute value of a first predetermined tag in the document obtained by said document obtaining means as rule identification information;

rule selecting means for selecting a rule corresponding to the extracted rule identification information from among a plurality of rules stored in a rule memory, each of the plurality of rules specifying respective sections of voice output contents and voice input candidates in the obtained document, and said rule selecting means selecting a predetermined one of the plurality of rules if the first predetermined tag is not contained in the obtained document;

document analyzing means for analyzing the document obtained by said document obtaining means based on the rule selected by said rule selecting means to extract voice output contents, voice input candidates, and designation information for designating a next processing object corresponding to each voice input candidate, from the respective sections of the obtained document specified by the rule selected by said rule selecting means, said document analyzing means extracting a second attribute value of the first predetermined tag as the voice output contents and text surrounded by second predetermined tags as the voice input candidates if the selected rule is a first rule, and extracting text in a range from a head to a third predetermined tag in the document as the voice output contents and anchors in the range as the voice input candidates if the selected rule is a second rule;

voice output means for voice-outputting the voice output contents extracted by said document analyzing means;

voice recognizing means for voice-recognizing a voice input by a user; and

control means for checking the result of recognition by said voice recognizing means against the input candidates extracted by said document analyzing means to control obtaining of a new document by said document obtaining means or next analysis by said document analyzing means based on a next processing object designated by designation information corresponding to an input candidate matching the recognition result.

2. The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the first rule, if the recognition result matches an input candidate, contents ranging from the contents surrounded by said second predetermined tags which correspond to the input candidate up to a succeeding one of the second predetermined tags are defined as next voice output contents, and anchors in the next voice output contents are defined as next input candidates.

3. The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the voice input and voice output are performed through a telephone line.

4. The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said rule identification information is a predetermined attribute value of a predetermined tag.

5. The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said document analyzing means extracts as the designation information a source from which a next document is obtained.

6. The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said document analyzing means extracts an analyzed range of a next document as the designation information.

7. The document processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said rule selecting means selects a rule based on instructions from the user.

8. The document processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein a priority is given to a predetermined one of the rules based on the user'"'"'s instructions and the rule based on the rule identification information extracted by said rule identification information extraction means, and said rule selecting means selects the rule to which the priority is given.

9. A document processing method comprising:

a document obtaining step of obtaining a document written in a predetermined markup language from a designated source;

a rule identification information extraction step of extracting a first attribute value of a first predetermined tag in the document obtained in said document obtaining step as rule identification information;

a rule selecting step for selecting a rule corresponding to the extracted rule identification information from among a plurality of rules stored in a rule memory, each of the plurality of rules specifying respective sections of voice output contents and voice input candidates in the obtained document, and a predetermined one of the plurality of rules being selected in said rule selecting step if the predetermined tag is not contained in the obtained document;

a document analyzing step of analyzing the document obtained in said document obtaining step based on the rule selected in said rule selecting step to extract voice output contents, voice input candidates, and designation information for designating a next processing object corresponding to each voice input candidate, from the respective sections of the obtained document specified by the rule selected in said rule selecting step, and in said document analyzing step, a second attribute value of the first predetermined tag is extracted as the voice output contents and text surrounded by second predetermined tags is extracted as the voice input candidates if the selected rule is a first rule, and text in a range from a head to a third predetermined tag in the document is extracted as the voice output contents and anchors in the range are extracted as the voice input candidates if the selected rule is a second rule;

a voice outputting step of voice-outputting the voice output contents extracted in said document analyzing step;

a voice recognizing step of voice-recognizing a voice input from a user; and

a control step of checking the result of recognition obtained in said voice recognizing step against the input candidates extracted in said document analyzing step to control obtaining of a new document in said document obtaining step or next analysis in said document analyzing step based on a next processing object designated by designation information corresponding to an input candidate matching the recognition result.

10. A computer-executable program, embodied in a computer-readable medium, for controlling a computer to perform document processing, said program comprising codes for causing the computer to perform:

a document obtaining step of obtaining a document written in a predetermined markup language from a designated source;

a rule identification information extraction step of extracting a first attribute value of a first predetermined tag in the document obtained in said document obtaining step as rule identification information;

a rule selecting step for selecting a rule corresponding to the extracted rule identification information from among a plurality of rules stored in a rule memory, each of the plurality of rules specifying respective sections of voice output contents and voice input candidates in the obtained document, and a predetermined one of the plurality of rules being selected in said rule selecting step if the predetermined tag is not contained in the obtained document;

a document analyzing step of analyzing the document obtained in said document obtaining step based on the rule selected in said rule selecting step to extract voice output contents, voice input candidates, and designation information for designating a next processing object corresponding to each voice input candidate, from the respective sections of the obtained document specified by the rule selected in said rule selecting step, and in said document analyzing step, a second attribute value of the first predetermined tag is extracted as the voice output contents and text surrounded by second predetermined tags is extracted as the voice input candidates if the selected rule is a first rule, and text in a range from a head to a third predetermined tag in the document is extracted as the voice output contents and anchors in the range are extracted as the voice input candidates if the selected rule is a second rule;

a voice outputting step of voice-outputting the voice output contents extracted in said document analyzing step;

a voice recognizing step of voice-recognizing a voice input from a user; and

a control step of checking the result of recognition obtained in said voice recognizing step against the input candidates extracted in said document analyzing step to control obtaining of a new document in said document obtaining step or next analysis in said document analyzing step based on a next processing object designated by designation information corresponding to an input candidate matching the recognition result.

11. A computer-readable storage medium for storing the program according to claim 10.