Method and system for using voice input for performing network functions

1 - 19 . (canceled)

20 . A method for using voice input to perform functions on a network, the method comprising:

receiving the voice input, wherein the voice input includes a plurality of possible words;

analyzing each of the plurality of possible words of the voice input using a semantic inheritance network; and

determining a contextual meaning for the voice input using each of the plurality of possible words analyzed using the semantic inheritance network.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein analyzing each of the possible words using a semantic inheritance network includes:

analyzing each of the plurality of possible words of the voice input using a plurality of candidate nodes and at least one contextual distance; and

determining at least one preferred contextual distance for each of the plurality of possible words.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein determining a contextual meaning for the voice input using each of the plurality of possible words analyzed using the semantic inheritance network includes:

applying the at least one contextual distance to the plurality of candidate nodes to produce a contextual meaning for subsets of the plurality of possible words;

comparing the contextual meaning among the subsets of the plurality of possible words; and

selecting at least one of the subsets of the plurality of possible words having the contextual meaning meeting a preferred contextual meaning threshold.

23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the semantic inheritance network includes a stored natural language context including a plurality of context nodes, and wherein analyzing each of the plurality of possible words of the voice input using a semantic inheritance network includes:

identifying a plurality of links, wherein each of the plurality of links traverses from one of the plurality of candidate nodes to one of the plurality of context nodes; and

computing each of the at least one contextual distance for each of the plurality of candidate nodes, each of the at least one contextual distance occurring between one of the plurality of candidate nodes and one of the plurality of context nodes.

24 . The method of claim 23 , wherein determining at least one preferred contextual distance for each of the plurality of possible words includes:

comparing each of the at least one contextual distance to one another.

25 . The method of claim 24 , wherein determining at least one preferred contextual distance further includes:

selecting a subset of candidate nodes from the plurality of candidate nodes.

26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein determining at least one preferred contextual distance further includes:

determining a preferred contextual meaning corresponding to the natural language input;

wherein each of the subset of candidate nodes has an associated contextual distance approximating an optimal contextual distance, such that each of the input nodes has at least one candidate node selected from the subset of candidate nodes, the at least one associated candidate node being the preferred contextual meaning for the corresponding one from the set of input nodes.

27 . The method of claim 26 , wherein the semantic inheritance network includes a plurality of semantic nodes, and wherein each of the subset of candidate nodes inherits from a common semantic network node, the common semantic network node being selected from the plurality of semantic nodes.

28 . The method of claim 26 , wherein determining at least one preferred contextual distance further includes:

determining a greatest minimal distance among each of the plurality of candidate nodes and each of the plurality of context nodes.

29 . The method of claim 26 , wherein, if no links are identified as traversing among one of the plurality of candidate nodes and any one of the plurality of context nodes, estimating a distance between each of the plurality of candidate nodes and each of the plurality of context nodes.

30 . The method of claim 26 , wherein each of the plurality of links has a corresponding one of a plurality of semantic link types.

31 . The method of claim 26 , wherein no links are identified as traversing from one of the plurality of candidate nodes to one from the plurality of context nodes for at least one of the plurality of semantic link types.

32 . The method of claim 26 , wherein identifying a plurality of links includes:

excluding each of the plurality of links having the at least one of the plurality of semantic link types for which no links are identified.

33 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the method is performed by a processor.

34 . The method of claim 33 , wherein the processor is imbedded in a device having voice recognition capability.

35 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the network is the Internet.

36 . The method of claim 33 , wherein the device is selected from a group consisting of a telephone device, a personal digital assistant, a personal computer, a minicomputer, a microcomputer, a server, and a hand-held device.

37 . The method of claim 34 , wherein the plurality of input candidate nodes are received via the voice recognition capability of the device.

38 . The method of claim 33 , wherein the processor is imbedded in a device having voice synthesis capability.

39 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the plurality of candidate nodes have inheritance sibling nodes and links among the inheritance sibling nodes in a topology, the method further comprising:

applying an abstractness analysis to the topology for each of the candidate nodes and to at least one alternative topology for each of the candidate nodes; and

selecting at least one preferred topology based on the abstractness analysis.

40 . The method of claim 39 , wherein selecting at least one preferred topology based on the abstractness analysis includes:

weighting the topology and each of the at least one alternative topology.

41 . The method of claim 20 , further comprising:

providing a network command corresponding to the selected at least one of the subsets of the plurality of possible words having the contextual meaning meeting the preferred contextual meaning threshold.