System and method for providing remote automatic speech recognition and text-to-speech services via a packet network
View Patent ↗A system and method of operating an automatic speech recognition service using a client-server architecture is used to make automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text to speech (TTS) services accessible at a client location remote from the location of the main ASR and TTS engines. The present invention utilizes client-server communications over a packet network, such as the Internet or a wireless network, where the ASR/TTS server receives a grammar from the client or selects from a locally second plurality of grammars, receives information representing speech from the client, performs speech recognition, and returns information based upon the recognized speech to the client.
1. A method of operating an automatic speech recognition service remotely accessible by a client over an Internet Protocol Network, the method comprising:
(a) receiving from the client a grammar identifier;
(b) using the grammar identifier, selecting a grammar used for recognizing the speech information from a plurality of grammars;
(c) receiving from the client speech information;
(d) using the selected grammar, recognizing the received speech information by applying an automatic speech recognition algorithm; and
(e) sending information based on the recognized speech over the Internet Protocol network to the client.
2. The method of operating an automatic speech recognition service remotely accessible by a client of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of grammars is stored local to the automatic speech recognition service.
3. The method of operating an automatic speech recognition service remotely accessible by a client of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of grammars is stored remotely from the automatic speech recognition service.
4. The method of operating an automatic speech recognition service remotely accessible by a client of claim 3 , wherein the grammar identifier is a uniform resource locator-compatible address.
5. A method of operating a spoken dialog service remotely accessible by a client over an Internet Protocol network, the method comprising:
(a) receiving from the client a grammar identifier;
(b) using the grammar identifier, selecting a grammar used for recognizing the speech information from a plurality of grammars;
(c) receiving from the client speech information;
(d) using the selected grammar recognizing the received speech information by applying an automatic speech recognition algorithm; and
(e) transmitting speech from the spoken dialog service based on the recognized speech information over the Internet Protocol network to the client.
6. The method of operating a spoken dialog service remotely accessible by a client of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of grammar are stored local to the spoken dialog service.
7. The method of operating a spoken dialog service remotely accessible by a client of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of grammars are stored remotely from the spoken dialog service.
8. The method of operating a spoken dialog service remotely accessible by a client of claim 7 , wherein the grammar identifier is a uniform resource locator-compatible address.
9. A method of operating a spoken dialog service remotely accessible by a client over an Internet Protocol network, the method comprising, at the client:
(a) receiving speech information from a user;
(b) transmitting the speech information to a server for speech recognition;
(c) transmitting to the server a grammar identifier, wherein the server may use the grammar identifier to select a grammar from a plurality of grammars; and
(d) receiving generated speech from the server in response to the recognized user speech information over the Internet Protocol network.
10. The method of operating a spoken dialog service remotely accessible by a client of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of grammars is stored local to the server.
11. The method of operating a spoken dialog service remotely accessible by a client of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of grammars is stored remotely from the server.
12. The method of operating a spoken dialog service remotely accessible by a client of claim 11 , wherein the grammar identifier is a uniform resources locator-compatible address.