Combining use of a stepwise markup language and an object oriented development tool

• US 7,729,919 B2
• Filed: 07/03/2003
• Issued: 06/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wang, Kuansan
• Primary Examiner(s): Dorvil; Richemond
• Assistant Examiner(s): YEN, ERIC L
• Application Number:
  US10/613,631
• Publication Number:
  US 20050004800A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,525 Days
• Field of Search: 704270-275
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/656 while running
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/74 with voice recognition means voice activated dialling H04M1/271; voice recognition algorithms G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for combining VoiceXML with an speech application development tool such as SALT. In one aspect of the present invention, a VoiceXML module includes VoiceXML executable instructions. A SALT module includes speech application language tags to execute instructions associated with the VoiceXML module.

Claims

1. A computer readable storage medium having instructions that, when implemented on a computer cause the computer to process information, comprising:

a VoiceXML module executing a form interpretation algorithm, the VoiceXML module including instructions executed by a processor of the computer in a defined order based on an execution algorithm causing the computer to establish an interactive dialog with a user to complete the form, wherein the VoiceXML module declares a first field and a second field and the instructions process dialog events associated with at least one of recognition, prompting, and messaging events, wherein the form interpretation algorithm is initialized in response to instantiation of the form and the instructions of the VoiceXML module are executed in the defined order for processing prompting events in the dialog;

a SALT module having speech application language tags embedded within the VoiceXML module, the SALT module including at least one object having a temporal trigger initializing an operation associated with the instructions of the VoiceXML module during the interaction, wherein the operation initialized by the SALT module comprises at least one, but not all, of recognition, prompting, and messaging events, wherein the temporal trigger of the SALT module initializes a speech recognition event having a plurality of associated grammars, the speech recognition event obtaining a recognition result from the user having a plurality of portions, wherein the speech recognition event initialized by the SALT module associates a first portion of the recognition result with a first grammar of the plurality of grammars completing the first field declared by the VoiceXML module and associates a second portion of the recognition result with a second grammar of the plurality of grammars completing the second field declared by the VoiceXML module; and

wherein the execution algorithm of the VoiceXML module automatically invokes the temporal trigger of the SALT module initializing the speech recognition event when the at least one object is encountered and automatically advances to a subsequent instruction in the defined order after completion of the speech recognition event.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the temporal trigger initializes a dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) recognition event.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the temporal trigger initializes a messaging event.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the VoiceXML module declares a first field and a second field and wherein the SALT module initializes a recognition event obtaining speech input from a user and fills the first field with a first portion of the speech input and fills the second field with a second portion of the speech input.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 4 wherein a first grammar is associated with the first field and a second grammar is associated with the second field.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the VoiceXML module declares a first field and a second field and wherein the SALT module initializes a recognition event obtaining an utterance having speech and DTMF input from a user and associates the speech input with the first field and the DTMF input with the second field.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the VoiceXML module declares a field and wherein the SALT module initializes a recognition event obtaining a recognition result from the user to fill the field and executes a prompt to render the field to the user.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the SALT module executes a messaging event to connect to a remote application.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein the SALT module receives the result based on the messaging event and renders the result to a user.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the trigger is one of an indication of error, exception, recognition and no recognition.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the trigger is completion of a playback instruction.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the trigger is receipt of a message.

13. A computer readable storage medium having a markup page executable by a computer, that, when implemented, causes the computer to process information, comprising:

a VoiceXML module having VoiceXML executable instructions that are executed by a processor of the computer establishing an interactive dialog between the computer and a user, wherein the VoiceXML module declares a first VoiceXML field and a second VoiceXML field and instantiates a form interpretation algorithm filling the first and second VoiceXML fields, the form interpretation algorithm controlling prompting events in a dialog flow with the user, the form interpretation algorithm looping through the VoiceXML executable instructions in a defined order until the first and second VoiceXML fields have been filled by the user;

a SALT module having speech application language tags executing a speech recognition event associated with at least one prompting event controlled by the form interpretation algorithm instantiated by the VoiceXML module during the interaction, wherein the SALT module interrupts the form interpretation algorithm loop when a tag of the SALT module is encountered initializing the speech recognition event, wherein the speech recognition event is initialized obtaining speech input from a user and fills the first VoiceXML field with a first portion of the speech input and fills the second VoiceXML field with a second portion of the speech input; and

wherein the form interpretation algorithm of the VoiceXML module automatically invokes an object of the SALT module initializing the speech recognition event when the tag of the SALT module is encountered and automatically advances to a subsequent instruction in the defined order after completion of the speech recognition event.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the form interpretation algorithm continuously loops though the VoiceXML executable instructions until the first and second VoiceXML fields have been filled.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein a first grammar is associated with the first VoiceXML field and a second grammar is associated with the second VoiceXML field.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the SALT module initializes a recognition event having a plurality of grammars obtaining a recognition result and associates the recognition result with at least one of the plurality of grammars.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the SALT module initializes a recognition event obtaining an utterance having speech and DTMF input from a user and associates the speech input with the first field and the DTMF input with the second field.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the VoiceXML module declares a field and wherein the SALT module initializes a recognition event obtaining a recognition result from the user to fill the field and executes a prompt in the markup page rendering the field to the user.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the SALT module executes a messaging event to connect to a remote application.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19 wherein the SALT module receives a result based on the messaging event and renders the result to a user.

21. A computer-implemented method for providing an interactive user interface comprising:

establishing, using a processor of the computer, a stepwise dialog embodied in a VoiceXML module executing instructions in a defined order based on an execution algorithm associated with the VoiceXML module, the execution algorithm establishing an interactive dialog with a user, the instructions including objects for processing events in the dialog associated with speech prompting and messaging to the user in the interactive dialog, wherein establishing the stepwise dialog declares a first field and a second field to be filled with portions of an input from the user;

providing a prompt to the user based on the execution algorithm using the VoiceXML module;

receiving a user input that is a response to the prompt, the user input including a first portion having speech input from the user and a second portion having a dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) input from the user; and

performing at least one object oriented operation embodied in a SALT module upon receiving the user input, wherein the at least one object oriented operation initializes a recognition event associating the speech portion of the user input with the first field and the DTMF portion of the user input with the second field.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the object oriented operation is a speech recognition event.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein the object oriented operation is a DTMF recognition event.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein performing the operation further initiates a first grammar associated with the first field and a second field grammar associated with the second field.

25. The method of claim 21 wherein the operation initializes a recognition event having a plurality of grammars obtaining a recognition result and associates the recognition result with at least one of the plurality of grammars.

26. The method of claim 21 wherein establishing the stepwise dialog declares a field and wherein performing the object oriented operation includes initializing a recognition event obtaining a recognition result from a user to fill the field and execute a prompt to render the field to the user.

27. The method of claim 21 wherein the operation is a messaging event to connect to a remote application.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the operation further receives a result based on the messaging event and renders the result to a user.