Speech recognition using a foreign word grammar

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016267902-A1
Application number	US-201414408773-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 17, 2014
Priority date	Jul 17, 2014
Publication date	Sep 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods are utilized for recognizing speech that is partially in a foreign language. The systems and methods receive speech input from a user and detect if a rule or sentence entry grammar structure utilizing a foreign word has been uttered. To recognize the foreign word, a foreign word grammar is utilized. The foreign word grammar includes rules for recognizing the uttered foreign word. Two rules may be included in the foreign word grammar for each legitimate or slang term included in the foreign word grammar A first rule corresponds to the spoken form of the foreign word, and the second rule corresponds to the spelling form of the foreign word. The foreign word grammar may also utilize a prefix tree. Upon recognizing the foreign word, the recognized foreign word may be sent to an application to retrieve the pronunciation, translation, or definition of the foreign word.

First claim

1 . A method for speech recognition of a foreign word:
receiving speech input, wherein the speech input includes the foreign word; detecting a sentence entry grammar structure, wherein the sentence entry grammar structure includes static text in a first language and a placeholder for the foreign word, wherein the foreign word is in a second language; and utilizing a foreign word grammar to recognize the foreign word, wherein the foreign word grammar includes a first rule for the spoken form of the foreign word and a second rule for the spelling form of the foreign word.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending the recognized foreign word to an application, wherein the application is selected based on at least the detected sentence entry grammar structure.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising receiving results from the application, wherein the results from the application include a definition for the foreign word in the first language.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein speech input of the foreign word is received as a spelling of the foreign word.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
recording the recognized foreign word in an aggregated result database; and adjusting statistical weights in the foreign word grammar

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the foreign word grammar includes a prefix tree, and utilizing the foreign word grammar further comprises utilizing the prefix tree to recognize the foreign word, wherein probabilities are incorporated into transition arcs of the prefix tree.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the speech input is captured on a client device and received from the client device at a cloud-based server; and
wherein the detecting the sentence entry grammar structure and the utilizing the foreign word grammar to recognize the foreign word are performed on the cloud-based server.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the foreign word grammar constrains the results of the speech recognition to only those words included within the foreign word grammar

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the foreign word grammar includes multiple words in the second language, wherein all the words in the foreign word grammar are legitimate words or slang terms in the second language.

10 . A computer storage medium, having computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, perform a method for speech recognition of a foreign word, the method comprising:
capturing speech input, wherein the speech input includes a spelling of the foreign word; receiving a result for the speech recognition of the foreign word, wherein the result of the speech recognition is based on:
a detection of a sentence entry grammar structure, wherein the sentence entry grammar structure includes static text in a first language and a placeholder for the foreign word, wherein the foreign word is in a second language; and
a utilization of a foreign word grammar to recognize the foreign word, wherein the foreign word grammar includes a first rule for the spoken form the foreign word and a second rule for the spelling of the foreign word, and the foreign word grammar constrains results of the recognition to words in the foreign word grammar, wherein the words in the foreign word grammar are only legitimate words or slang terms in the second language.

Assignees

• Microsoft Corp

Inventors

• Hwang Mei-Yuh
• Zhang Hua

Classifications

• G10L15/18 Primary

  using natural language modelling · CPC title

• G06F40/253

  Grammatical analysis; Style critique · CPC title

• G10L15/005 Primary

  Language recognition · CPC title

• G06F17/274

  Physics · mapped topic