Method and apparatus for distributed speech applications

1. A communication unit comprising:

a communication interface, for transmitting and receiving communications when operably connected to a first communication network, the first communication network coupled to a first server and a second server; and

a processor cooperatively operable with the communication interface, and configured to facilitate, responsive to receipt of an utterance, sending a fetch request over the communication interface, the fetch request directed to the first server and transmitting, separate from the fetch request, a first message having the utterance over the communication interface, the first message directed to the second server; and receiving a second message having a result of a recognition of the utterance from the communication interface in response to the fetch request.

2. The communication unit of claim 1 , wherein the first message is transmitted via streaming.

3. The communication unit of claim 1 , further comprising a voice input device cooperatively operable with the processor, wherein the utterance is received in connection with the voice input device.

4. The communication unit of claim 1 , wherein the fetch request is initiated prior to the transmitting of the first message.

5. The communication unit of claim 1 , further comprising a unique identifier, wherein the first message and the fetch request indicate the unique identifier.

6. The communication unit of claim 1 , wherein the fetch request is directed to an application server, and the transmitting of the first message is directed to a voice server.

7. The communication unit of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to facilitate providing the result, responsive to receipt thereof, to an application program executing on the processor.

8. The communication unit of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to facilitate prompting a user for the utterance.

9. The communication unit of claim 1 , wherein the fetch request and the second message are in accordance with the hypertext transfer protocol.

10. A method for providing speech handling for a communication system comprising: in a server;

receiving a first message with an utterance over a communication interface from a communication network, wherein the first message includes an indication corresponding to a communication device that originated the utterance, the communication device coupled to the communication network;

performing, responsive to the first message, speech recognition of the utterance to produce a result of the recognition; and

posting a second message over the communication network with the result of the recognition, wherein the second message includes the indication and is posted to an application server, the application server coupled to the communication network and differing from the server.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising wherein the second message is posted in accordance with a hypertext transfer protocol over a transport control protocol connection.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second message is posted over the communication network in accordance with the communication interface.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first message is received from the communication device via streaming over the communication network.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising operating responsive to the result in accordance with a dialog manager.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising

receiving at the application server, from the communication device in accordance with the communication interface, a fetch request having the indication; and

at the application server, associating the result with the indication; and sending, responsive to the fetch request a message corresponding to the result to the communication device corresponding to the indication.

16. A server providing an application for a communication system, comprising:

a communication interface, for transmitting and receiving communications when operably connected to a communication network;

a memory; and

a processor cooperatively operable with the communication interface, and configured to facilitate receiving a first message over the communication interface from a communication device, the first message having a fetch request and a first indication corresponding to a source of the fetch request; storing the first indication in the memory; waiting for a result of a voice recognition performed on an utterance, the result originating from another server, the utterance provided in a message originating from a source of the utterance, the message separate from the first message; receiving the result, the result having a second indication corresponding to the source of the utterance; associating; responsive to the first indication and the second indication, the fetch request with the result; and transmitting, over the communication interface to the communication device, a second message with the result as a response to the fetch request.

17. The server of claim 16 , further comprising a second communication interface, for receiving communications when operably connected to a second communication network, wherein the result is received from a third message having a post with the result.

18. The server of claim 16 , wherein the result is received from the communication network over the communication interface.

19. The server of claim 16 , wherein the first and second message are in accordance with a hypertext transfer protocol.