Data processing: speech signal processing – linguistics – language – Speech signal processing – Application
Reexamination Certificate
1996-12-04
2001-08-28
Knepper, David D. (Department: 2748)
Data processing: speech signal processing, linguistics, language
Speech signal processing
Application
Reexamination Certificate
active
06282511
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This application is related to the art of user interaction with stored information, and more particularly, to such an interaction via spoken dialogue.
INTRODUCTION TO THE INVENTION
Software programs, known as “browsers,” are popularly used for providing easy access to that portion of the Internet known as the World Wide Web (WWW). Examples of such browsers include the Netscape Navigator, available from Netscape Communications, Inc., and the Internet Explorer, available from Microsoft Corporation. These browsers are textual and graphical user interfaces which aid a computer user in requesting and displaying information from the WWW. Information displayed by a browser includes documents (or “pages”) which comprise images, text, sound, graphics and hyperlinks, often referred to as “hypertext.”
Hypertext is a graphical representation, in text form, of another address (typically of another document) where information may be found. Such information usually relates to the information content conveyed by the “text.” The hypertext is not usually the address itself, but text conveying some information which may be of interest to the user. When a user selects a piece of hypertext (for example, by a mouse “click”), the browser will typically request another document from a server based on an address associated with the hypertext. In this sense, the hypertext is a link to the document at the associated address.
In addition to the conventional computer software browsers, other types of browsers are known. Audio browsers approximate the functionality of computer browsers by “reading” WWW document text to a user (listener). Audio browsers are particularly useful for persons who are visually impaired of persons who cannot access a computer but can access a telephone. Reading of text is accomplished by conventional text-to-speech (TTS) technology or by playing back pre-recorded sound. Hypertext is indicated to the listener by audible delimiters, such as a “beep” before and after the hypertext, or by a change of voice characteristics when hypertext is spoken to the listener. When a listener wishes to jump to the linked address associated with the hypertext, the listener replies with either a DTMF tone (i.e., a touch-tone) or speaks a command word such as “jump” or “link,” which is recognized by an automatic speech recognition system. In either case, the audio browser interprets the reply as a command to retrieve the document at the address associated with the hypertext link just read to the listener.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The present invention is directed it an improved audio browser The inventor of the present invention has recognized that conventional audio browsers have a limitation which has to do with the use of simple command words or tones to select a hyperlink. In particular, the inventor has recognized that because the same command or tone is used to indicate a desire to jump to any hypertext-linked address, a conventional audio browser forces a listener (user) to select a given hypertext link before the listener is presented with the next hypertext link. Since hypertext links may be presented in rapid succession, or because a user may not know which hyperlink to select until the user hears additional hyperlinks, users of such audio browsers must use rewind and play commands to facilitate the selection of hypertext which was read but not selected prior to the reading of the next piece of hypertext.
The inventor of the present invention has further recognized that features of a speech recognition technique employed in computer browsers for sighted persons are useful in improving browsers meant for persons who cannot see a computer screen. See, e.g., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/460,955, filed on Jun. 5, 1995, which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully disclosed herein.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of hypertext links (or, somewhat more descriptively, “hyperlink words”) available from, for example, a WWW document, are used as a vocabulary of a speech recognizer for an audio browser. These hyperlink words are read to the user in the ordinary course of the audio browser's “speaking voice”—such hyperlink words being identified to the user by, for example, a change in voice characteristics for the “speaking voice.” When a user wishes to select a hyperlink word, the user merely repeats the hyperlink word itself, rather than speaking a command or using a DTMF tone, as with prior art audio browsers. The speech recognizer, which has as its vocabulary some or all of the hyperlink words of the document, recognizes the spoken hyperlink word and causes the jump to the linked address associated with the recognized hyperlink word.
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AT&T
Knepper David D.
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