Indexing method for quick search of voice recognition results

• US 8,438,024 B2
• Filed: 10/05/2007
• Issued: 05/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: White, Kenneth D.
• Primary Examiner(s): JACKSON, JAKIEDA R
• Application Number:
  US11/868,095
• Publication Number:
  US 20090094030A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,041 Days
• Field of Search: 704/235, 704/246
• US Class Current: 704/235
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence

Abstract

A method, system and computer program product for receiving a spoken request to obtain indexed results from a database. Like result types are assigned to categories, and within each category is a plurality of result entries. The result indices are hexadecimal encoded, and each hexadecimal encoding is preceded by an initial character representing the result category. A speech recognition system is engaged, which processes the spoken request. When a item is requested, the respective category is implicitly known by the index returned, and the index provides direct access within a database to the corresponding result based on the phonetics of the request.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a spoken request to obtain an item from a database;

converting the spoken request into one or more indices representing the request, wherein each index has a category delimiter of an associated result category;

retrieving one or more result entries from the database by utilizing the one or more indices, wherein the result entries within the database are indexed by a corresponding result category;

associating a first result entry identified by the one or more indices corresponding to the spoken request with a first selection of a category most closely associated with the spoken request; and

displaying a first result entry retrieved and one or more closely related results within the result category on a graphic user interface that identifies the first category and the one or more result entries retrieved and enables selection of one of the displayed result entries.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein indexing further comprises:

indexing one or more results within the database according to a result category;

automatically encoding result entries of an index with a hexadecimal label, wherein a result entry'"'"'s index is hexadecimal encoded, and the hexadecimal encoding is preceded by an initial character representing the result category;

prefacing the hexadecimal label of the indexed entries with a character representing the result category;

organizing like result types within a result category, wherein when an item is requested, a specific category is known implicitly by the index returned by a speech recognition engine, wherein the speech recognition system outputs a sequence of result indices associated with database items according to phonetics of the voice request; and

engaging the speech recognition system for processing spoken requests for a result, wherein said speech recognition engine compares the phonetics of the spoken request for an item with a plurality of database entries within a target category.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

storing a plurality of indexed categories and results on a local computer system;

storing a plurality of indexed categories and results on a remote computer system; and

storing an index having a plurality of result entries, each result entry having an associated hexadecimal identifier for identifying the result entry.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprises:

receiving a selection of an indexed result entry displayed on the interface; and

loading the selected result on the local data processing system for further manipulation thereof.

5. A computer program product comprising:

a recordable type, tangible storage device; and

program code on the recordable type, tangible storage device that when executed by a processor provides the functions of;

receiving a spoken request to obtain an item from a database;

converting the spoken request into one or more indices representing the request, wherein each index has a category delimiter of an associated result category;

retrieving one or more result entries from the database by utilizing the one or more indices, wherein the result entries within the database are indexed by a corresponding result category;

associating a first result entry identified by the one or more indices corresponding to the spoken request with a first selection of a category most closely associated with the spoken request; and

displaying a first result entry retrieved and one or more closely related results within the result category on a graphic user interface that identifies the first category and the one or more result entries retrieved and enables selection of one of the displayed result entries.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the code for indexing further comprises program code for:

indexing one or more results within the database according to a result category;

automatically encoding result entries of an index with a hexadecimal label, wherein a result entry'"'"'s index is hexadecimal encoded, and the hexadecimal encoding is preceded by an initial character representing the result category;

prefacing the hexadecimal label of the indexed entries with a character representing the result category;

organizing like result types within a result category, wherein when an item is requested, a specific category is known implicitly by the index returned by a speech recognition engine, wherein the speech recognition system outputs a sequence of result indices associated with database items according to phonetics of the voice request; and

engaging the speech recognition system for processing spoken requests for a result, wherein said speech recognition engine compares the phonetics of the spoken request for an item with a plurality of database entries within a target category.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising program code for:

storing a plurality of indexed categories and results on a local computer system;

storing a plurality of indexed categories and results on a remote computer system; and

storing an index having a plurality of result entries, each result entry having an associated hexadecimal identifier for identifying the result entry.

8. The computer program product of claim 5, further comprising program code for:

receiving a selection of an indexed result entry displayed on the interface; and

loading the selected result on the local data processing system for further manipulation thereof.

9. An electronic device comprising:

a processor component;

an input/output (I/O) mechanism that receives phonetic commands including spoken request;

a mechanism for outputting result entries based on the spoken request;

a speech recognition engine for processing the spoken request; and

a utility executing on the processor component and which comprises codes that enables completion of the functions of;

receiving a spoken request to obtain an item from a database;

converting the spoken request into one or more indices representing the request, wherein each index has a category delimiter of an associated result category;

retrieving one or more result entries from the database by utilizing the one or more indices, wherein the result entries within the database are indexed by a corresponding result category;

associating a first result entry identified by the one or more indices corresponding to the spoken request with a first selection of a category most closely associated with the spoken request; and

displaying a first result entry retrieved and one or more closely related results within the result category on a graphic user interface that identifies the first category and the one or more result entries retrieved and enables selection of one of the displayed result entries.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the utility function of indexing further comprises:

indexing one or more results within the database according to a result category;

automatically encoding result entries of an index with a hexadecimal label, wherein a result entry'"'"'s index is hexadecimal encoded, and the hexadecimal encoding is preceded by an initial character representing the result category;

prefacing the hexadecimal label of the indexed entries with a character representing the result category;

organizing like result types within a result category, wherein when an item is requested, a specific category is known implicitly by the index returned by the speech recognition engine, wherein the speech recognition system outputs a sequence of result indices associated with database items according to phonetics of the voice request; and

engaging the speech recognition system for processing spoken requests for a result, wherein said speech recognition engine compares the phonetics of the spoken request for an item with a plurality of database entries within a target category.

11. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein said utility functions further comprises:

storing a plurality of indexed categories and results on a local computer system;

storing a plurality of indexed categories and results on a remote computer system; and

storing an index having a plurality of result entries, each result entry having an associated hexadecimal identifier for identifying the result entry.

12. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein said utility functions further comprises:

receiving a selection of an indexed result entry displayed on the interface; and

loading the selected result on the local data processing system for further manipulation thereof.