Method of providing concise forms of natural commands

Details Method of providing concise forms of natural commands Method of providing concise forms of natural commands

2001-03-28

2004-10-05

To, Doris H. (Department: 2655)

Data processing: speech signal processing, linguistics, language

Speech signal processing

Application

C704S270000, C704S257000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06801897

ABSTRACT:

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
(Not Applicable)
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
(Not Applicable)
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
This invention relates to the field of speech recognition, and more particularly, to presenting concise speech command forms to a user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Speech recognition is the process by which an acoustic signal received by a transducive element is converted to a set of text words, numbers, or symbols by a computer. These recognized words may then be used in a variety of computer program applications for purposes such as document preparation, data entry, and command and control. Improvements to speech recognition systems provide an important way to enhance user productivity.
For example, users can control various aspects of a voice enabled system through the use of natural commands. Natural commands are spoken phrases mirroring natural human speech which can be translated into a command that is recognizable by a computer program. Voice enabled systems typically provide users with several alternative natural commands for initiating a single function. Such functionally equivalent natural commands offer users a variety of differing phrases for accomplishing the same task, thereby allowing a user to select a phrase which is preferred by that user.
Conventional speech recognition systems can use a natural command grammar to specify a list of acceptable phrases for initiating a particular function. The natural command grammar can be specified as a word list which later must be processed to translate portions of the grammar into a command which can be recognized by a voice enabled computer program. Another type of grammar can be an annotated grammar which also must be processed to determine a recognizable command. An annotated grammar, however, can contain annotations to aid in the translation processing. Still, the natural command grammar can be a Backus-Naur Form (BNF) grammar already containing specified translation rules. Thus, any natural command which can be used to access a command within a voice enabled computer program must be specified within the natural command grammar.
Oftentimes, a user can be unaware of the particular natural command form for performing a given function in the voice enabled computer program. In such cases, rather than consulting a manual, the user typically utters a series of different possible command permutations until the speech recognition system recognizes a natural command form and initiates the user desired function. The natural command form stumbled upon by the user, however, is not always the most concise manner of expressing that particular natural command. Over time, as a user continues to use a particular voice enabled system, the user likely will want to become more efficient at using the system without having to read or memorize portions of a user's manual.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention disclosed herein concerns a method for providing concise forms of natural commands in a voice enabled system. In particular, the invention can receive a user specified command and present the user with one or more different, but functionally equivalent, natural command forms. A natural command grammar can be accessed and processed to identify each functional equivalent natural command form of the user specified command. Notably, functional equivalents of the user specified command can include any natural command in the natural command grammar, which when translated, produces the same command which is recognizable by the voice enabled system. Once the functional equivalents are identified, the lengths of each functional equivalent can be determined. The shortest or most concise functional equivalent or equivalents can be provided to the user for future reference.
One aspect of the present invention can include a method of providing a concise form of a natural command in a speech recognition system. The method can include receiving a user specified command and identifying all functionally equivalent natural command forms of the user specified command from a natural command grammar. The length of each functionally equivalent natural command form can be determined. The method further can include presenting a selected one of the functionally equivalent natural command forms having the shortest length to the user.
If a plurality of functionally equivalent natural command forms each have the shortest and equivalent length, the presenting step can include presenting a selected plurality of functionally equivalent natural command forms to the user. Alternatively, a selected one from a plurality of functionally equivalent natural command forms can be presented to the user. In any case, if the user specified command is a natural command, the functionally equivalent natural command forms can include the received user specified natural command form.
Another embodiment of the invention can include a method of providing a concise form of a natural command in a speech recognition system. The method can include receiving a user specified command and identifying all functionally equivalent natural command forms of the user specified command from a natural command grammar. The length of each functionally equivalent natural command form can be determined. Finally, the method can include presenting a selected at least one of the functionally equivalent natural command forms having the shortest length to the user.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4882757 (1989-11-01), Fisher et al.
patent: 5983190 (1999-11-01), Trower et al.
patent: 6023760 (2000-02-01), Karttunen
patent: 6085159 (2000-07-01), Ortega et al.
patent: 6138098 (2000-10-01), Shieber et al.
patent: 6182046 (2001-01-01), Ortega et al.
patent: 6208971 (2001-03-01), Bellegarda et al.
patent: 6275792 (2001-08-01), Lewis
patent: 6591236 (2003-07-01), Lewis et al.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Method of providing concise forms of natural commands does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Method of providing concise forms of natural commands, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method of providing concise forms of natural commands will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3272767