Routing queries based on carrier phrase registration

• US 9,570,077 B1
• Filed: 04/23/2014
• Issued: 02/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: LeBeau, Michael J., Jitkoff, John Nicholas, Byrne, William J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Abebe, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US14/259,540
• Time in Patent Office: 1,028 Days
• Field of Search: 704/275
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/08 Speech classification or search
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/271 controlled by voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products for receiving a voice query at a mobile computing device and generating data that represents content of the voice query. The data is provided to a server system. A textual query that has been determined by a speech recognizer at the server system to be a textual form of at least part of the data is received at the mobile computing device. The textual query is determined to include a carrier phrase of one or more words that is reserved by a first third-party application program installed on the computing device. The first third-party application is selected, from a group of one or more third-party applications, to receive all or a part of the textual query. All or a part of the textual query is provided to the selected first application program.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, a first voice input that includes one or more first words;

generating, by the computing device, first data that represents the one or more first words of the first voice input, wherein the first data represents an audio recording of the first voice input;

identifying that the one or more first words of the first voice input have been reserved for a particular third-party application program that is installed on the computing device;

receiving, by the computing device, a second voice input that that follows the first voice input and that includes one or more second words;

generating, by the computing device, second data that represents the one or more second words of the second voice input, wherein the second data represents text of the one or more second words of the second voice input; and

providing, as a result of having identified that the one or more first words of the first voice input are reserved for the particular third-party application program, the second data that represents the one or more second words of the second voice input to the particular third-party application program.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second data is provided to the particular third-party application program so as to cause the particular third-party application program to perform actions:

(i) that are defined by the particular third-party application program, and (ii) that are based on a content of the one or more second words.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising identifying that the one or more first words are not reserved for multiple third-party application programs other than the particular third-party application program,

wherein each of the multiple third-party application programs other than the particular third-party application program is not provided the second data that represents the one or more second words of the second voice input.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the particular third-party application program was installed on the computing device from an installation file that the computing device received over a network, in response to the computing device receiving user input that requests transmission of the installation file over the network.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying that the one or more first words of the first voice input have been reserved for the particular third-party application program includes comparing the one or more first words to words that were registered by multiple respective third-party application programs.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

identifying that the one or more first words of the first voice input have been reserved for the particular third-party application program includes identifying that the one or more first words have been reserved for the particular third-party application program from among a group of differing sets of one or more words that have been reserved for respective third-party application programs in a group of third-party application programs; and

the one or more first words were reserved for the particular third-party application program on behalf of the particular third-party application program by a developer of the particular third-party application program.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first words were reserved for the particular third-party application program in response to a request, on behalf of the particular third-party application program by a developer of the particular third-party application program, to register the one or more first words.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first words were reserved for the particular third-party application program in response to a request by the particular third-party application program to register the one or more first words.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the second voice input immediately follows the first voice input; and

the first voice input and the second voice input were received by the computing device in response to a single user selection of a button that is provided by the computing device for submitting voice inputs.

10. One or more computer-readable storage devices storing instructions that when executed by a processor, cause performance of operations that comprise:

receiving, by a computing device, a first voice input that includes one or more first words;

generating, by the computing device, first data that represents the one or more first words of the first voice input, wherein the first data represents an audio recording of the first voice input;

identifying that the one or more first words of the first voice input have been reserved for a particular third-party application program that is installed on the computing device;

receiving, by the computing device, a second voice input that that follows the first voice input and that includes one or more second words;

generating, by the computing device, second data that represents the one or more second words of the second voice input, wherein the second data represents text of the one or more second words of the second voice input; and

providing, as a result of having identified that the one or more first words of the first voice input are reserved for the particular third-party application program, the second data that represents the one or more second words of the second voice input to the particular third-party application program.

11. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 10, wherein the second data is provided to the particular third-party application program so as to cause the particular third-party application program to perform actions:

(i) that are defined by the particular third-party application program, and (ii) that are based on a content of the one or more second words.

12. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 10, wherein:

the operations further comprise identifying that the one or more first words are not reserved for multiple third-party application programs other than the particular third-party application program; and

each of the multiple third-party application programs other than the particular third-party application program is not provided the second data that represents the one or more second words of the second voice input.

13. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 10, wherein the particular third-party application program was installed on the computing device from an installation file that the computing device received over a network, in response to the computing device receiving user input that requests transmission of the installation file over the network.

14. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 10, wherein identifying that the one or more first words of the first voice input have been reserved for the particular third-party application program includes comparing the one or more first words to words that were registered by multiple respective third-party application programs.

15. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 10, wherein:

identifying that the one or more first words of the first voice input have been reserved for the particular third-party application program includes identifying that the one or more first words have been reserved for the particular third-party application program from among a group of differing sets of one or more words that have been reserved for respective third-party application programs in a group of third-party application programs; and

the one or more first words were reserved for the particular third-party application program on behalf of the particular third-party application program by a developer of the particular third-party application program.

16. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 10, wherein the one or more first words were reserved for the particular third-party application program in response to a request, on behalf of the particular third-party application program by a developer of the particular third-party application program, to register the one or more first words.

17. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 10, wherein the one or more first words were reserved for the particular third-party application program in response to a request by the particular third-party application program to register the one or more first words.

18. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 10, wherein:

the second voice input immediately follows the first voice input; and

the first voice input and the second voice input were received by the computing device in response to a single user selection of a button that is provided by the computing device for submitting voice inputs.