METHOD OF WEIGHTING SPEECH RECOGNITION GRAMMAR RESPONSES USING KNOWLEDGE BASE USAGE DATA

1 . A method of speech recognition for optimizing a set of keywords presented to a user, selected from a plurality of keywords in a knowledge database, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving at least one spoken command from a user via a communication means;

responding to said at least one spoken command with a set comprising of a plurality of keywords;

arranging said set of said plurality of keywords in order of the best possible set of matches, wherein said order of the best possible matches of said plurality of keywords is derived by mathematically combining a speech recognition confidence score and a keyword weighting score derived from the knowledge base; and

providing said best possible set of matches selected from said set of said plurality of keywords to said user.

2 . The method of speech recognition of claim 1 wherein said keyword weighting score is derived from the frequency of keyword searches in the knowledge base.

3 . The method of speech recognition of claim 1 further comprising the steps of;

generating order lists of keywords along with their respective frequency counts; adding new keywords to the list of grammar if appropriate; and

adjusting the weighting factor of the keywords based on their respective frequency counts.

4 . A method of speech recognition for presenting an optimized set of keywords selected from a plurality of keywords for searching a knowledge database comprising the steps of:

receiving at least one spoken command;

applying a weighted score to a plurality of keywords in said database;

applying a speech recognition confidence score for said at least one spoken word from said caller;

combining said weighted score from said plurality of keywords in said database and said weighted confidence score for said at least one spoken command from said caller; and

providing said caller with the optimal set of keywords based on the above criteria.

5 . The method of speech recognition of claim 4 wherein said weighted score of said keywords is based on the frequency of the selection of said keywords.

6 . The method of speech recognition of claim 4 wherein a keyword entered by a user, which is not found in the knowledge database is evaluated based on frequency of requests, and added to said knowledge database.

7 . The method of speech recognition of claim 4 wherein said speech recognition confidence scores for said at least one spoken word from said caller is arrived at from an ordered list of speech recognition results.

8 . An apparatus for receiving a spoken keyword from a user and providing said user an optimized set of keywords based on said spoken keyword comprising:

a means for receiving said spoken keyword from said user;

a means for converting said spoken keyword into a format capable of searching a knowledge database;

a means for compiling and reporting the frequency of searches for each of said keywords; an application server having a means for weighting the keywords based on said frequency of searches for each of said keywords and arranging a set of keywords in an order wherein said weighting of said keywords is a factor; and

a means for transmitting said set of keywords to said user.