System and method for enhancing speech recognition accuracy using weighted grammars based on user profile including demographic, account, time and date information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10186259-B2
Application number	US-201715679232-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 17, 2017
Priority date	Dec 19, 2008
Publication date	Jan 22, 2019
Grant date	Jan 22, 2019

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and computer-readable media for enhancing speech recognition accuracy. The method includes dividing a system dialog turn into segments based on timing of probable user responses, generating a weighted grammar for each segment, exclusively activating the weighted grammar generated for a current segment of the dialog turn during the current segment of the dialog turn, and recognizing user speech received during the current segment using the activated weighted grammar generated for the current segment. The method can further include assigning probability to the weighted grammar based on historical user responses and activating each weighted grammar is based on the assigned probability. Weighted grammars can be generated based on a user profile. A weighted grammar can be generated for two or more segments. The weighted grammar is weighted based on a user profile which includes of information about a number called from, account information, a time of day, and a date. Exclusively activating each weighted grammar can include a transition period blending the previously activated grammar and the grammar to be activated.

First claim

I claim:

1. A method comprising:
dividing, via a processor and as part of a dialogue with a dialog system, a dialog turn into a first segment of the dialog turn and a second segment of the dialog turn, wherein the dialog turn is divided into the first segment and the second segment based on at least one of a first timing of a first probable user response and a second timing of a second probable user response;
activating a first weighted grammar for the first segment to process first user speech received during the first segment, to yield a first activated weighted grammar, wherein the first weighted grammar is weighted based on a user profile which comprises one or more of information about a number called from, account information, a time of day, and a date;
activating a second weighted grammar for the second segment of the dialog to process second user speech received during the second segment, to yield a second activated weighted grammar;
recognizing the first user speech received during the first segment of the dialog using the first activated weighted grammar; and
recognizing the second user speech received during the second segment of the dialog using the second activated weighted grammar.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising assigning a first probability to the first weighted grammar and a second probability to the second weighted grammar based on historical user responses and activating the first weighted grammar based on the first probability and activating the second weighted grammar based on the second probability.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second weighted grammar is weighted based on the second probable user response.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein activating the first weighted grammar further comprises initiating a transition period blending a previously activated grammar and the first weighted grammar.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first weighted grammar is activated prior to at least one of the first user speech being received or a first spoken option corresponding to the first segment is presented by the dialog system.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising presenting a menu to a user using the dialog system prior to receiving the first user speech or the second user speech.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first set of boundaries associated with the first probable user response and the second probable user response is offset from a second set of boundaries associated with the first segment and the second segment.

8. A system comprising:
a processor; and
a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed on the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
dividing, as part of a dialogue with a dialog system, a dialog turn into a first segment of the dialog turn and a second segment of the dialog turn, wherein the dialog turn is divided into the first segment and the second segment based on at least one of a first timing of a first probable user response and a second timing of a second probable user response;
activating a first weighted grammar for the first segment to process first user speech received during the first segment, to yield a first activated weighted grammar, wherein the first weighted grammar is weighted based on a user profile which comprises one or more of information about a number called from, account information, a time of day, and a date;
activating a second weighted grammar for the second segment of the dialog to process second user speech received during the second segment, to yield a second activated weighted grammar;
recognizing the first user speech received during the first segment of the dialog using the first activated weighted grammar; and
recognizing the second user speech received during the second segment of the dialog using the second activated weighted grammar.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores additional instructions stored which, when executed on the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
assigning a first probability to the first weighted grammar and a second probability to the second weighted grammar based on historical user responses and activating the first weighted grammar based on the first probability and activating the second weighted grammar based on the second probability.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the second weighted
grammar is weighted based on the second probable user response.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein activating the first weighted grammar further comprises initiating a transition period blending a previously activated grammar and the first weighted grammar.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first weighted grammar is activated prior to at least one of the first user speech being received or a first spoken option corresponding to the first segment is presented by the dialog system.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores additional instructions stored which, when executed on the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
presenting a menu to a user using the dialog system prior to receiving the first user speech or the second user speech.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein a first set of boundaries associated with the first probable user response and the second probable user response is offset from a second set of boundaries associated with the first segment and the second segment.

15. A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
identifying, as part of a dialogue with a dialog system, a dialog turn into a first segment of the dialog turn and a second segment of the dialog turn, wherein the dialog turn is divided into the first segment and the second segment based on at least one of a first timing of a first probable user response and a second timing of a second probable user response;
activating a first weighted grammar for the first segment to process first user speech received during the first segment, to yield a first activated weighted grammar, wherein the first weighted grammar is weighted based on a user profile which comprises one or more of information about a number called from, demographic information, account information, a time of day, and a date;
activating a second weighted grammar for the second segment of the dialog to process second user speech received during the second segment, to yield a second activated weighted grammar;
recognizing the first user speech received during the first segment of the dialog using the first activated weighted grammar; and
recognizing the second user speech received during the second segment of the dialog using the second activated weighted grammar.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein the computer-readable storage device stores additional instructions stored which, when executed on the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising:
assigning a first probability to the first weighted grammar and a second probability to the second weighted grammar based on historical user responses and activating the first weighted grammar based on the first probability and activating the second weighted grammar based on the second probability.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein the second weighted
grammar is weighted based on the second probable user response.

18. The computer

Assignees

• Nuance Communications Inc

Inventors

• Czahor Michael

Classifications

• G10L15/19 Primary

  Grammatical context, e.g. disambiguation of the recognition hypotheses based on word sequence rules · CPC title

• G10L2015/228

  of application context · CPC title

• G10L2015/227

  of the speaker; Human-factor methodology · CPC title

• G06F40/58

  Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation · CPC title

• G06F17/289

  Physics · mapped topic