Method and apparatus for intention based communications for mobile communication devices

1. A method for intention-based communications in a mobile communication device, the method comprising:

receiving an input from a user of the mobile communication device;

converting speech portions in the user's input into linguistic representations;

generating a phoneme lattice based on the linguistic representations;

scoring stored intention n-grams against the generated phoneme lattice;

scoring intentions from the intention-n grams;

determining the highest scoring intention; and

determining whether the highest scoring intention is above a predetermined threshold, wherein if the highest scoring intention is above the predetermined threshold, then executing the determined intention.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein if the highest scoring intention is not above the predetermined threshold, then outputting information concerning the user's input to a dialog manager.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving feedback from a dialog manager concerning the user's intentions.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating the intention n-grams from at least one of: stored intention attributes, sentences, and speech; and

storing the generated intention n-grams in an intention n-gram database.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the intention n-grams are at least one of: bigrams, trigrams, four-grams, and five-grams and include attributes used to determine the user's intentions.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the linguistic representations are at least one of: words, morphemes, syllables, phones, phonemes, articulatory distinctive features, and acoustic distinctive features of at least one language.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile communication device is one of: a wireless telephone, a mobile telephone, a cellular telephone, a wireless radio, a portable computer, a laptop, an MP3 player, a satellite radio, and a satellite television.

8. An apparatus for intention-based communications in a mobile communication device, the apparatus comprising:

an automatic speech recognizer that receives an input from a user of the mobile communication device and converts speech portions in the user's input into linguistic representations;

a phoneme lattice generator that generates a phoneme lattice based on the linguistic representations; and

an intention determination unit that scores stored intention n-grams against the generated phoneme lattice, scores intentions from the intention n-grams, determines the highest scoring intention, and determines whether the highest scoring intention is above a predetermined threshold, wherein if the highest scoring intention is above the predetermined threshold, then the intention determination unit executes the determined intention.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein if the intention determination unit determines that the highest scoring intention is not above the predetermined threshold, then the intention determination unit outputs information concerning the user's input to a dialog manager.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the intention determination unit receives feedback from a dialog manager concerning the user's intentions.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising:

an intention n-gram database; and

an intention n-gram generator that generates the intention n-grams from stored intention attributes and stored audio and stores the generated intention n-grams in the intention n-gram database.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the intention n-grams are at least one of: bigrams, trigrams, four-grams, and five-grams and include attributes used by the intention determination unit to determine the user's intentions.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the linguistic representations are at least one of: words, morphemes, syllables, phones, phonemes, articulatory distinctive features, and acoustic distinctive features of at least one language.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the mobile communication device is one of: a wireless telephone, a mobile telephone, a cellular telephone, a wireless radio, a portable computer, a laptop, an MP3 player, a satellite radio, and a satellite television.

15. A mobile communication device comprising:

an intention n-gram database that stores intention n-grams generated from stored intention attributes and stored audio; and

an intention determination engine that receives an input from a user of the mobile communication device and converts speech portions in the user's input into linguistic representations, generates a phoneme lattice based on the linguistic representations, scores stored intention n-grams against the generated phoneme lattice, scores intentions from the intention n grams, determines the highest scoring intention, and determines whether the highest scoring intention is above a predetermined threshold, wherein if the highest scoring intention is above the predetermined threshold, then the intention determination engine executes the determined intention.

16. The mobile communication device of claim 15 wherein if the intention determination engine determines that the highest scoring intention is not above the predetermined threshold, then the intention determination engine outputs information concerning the user's input to a dialog manager.

17. The mobile communication device of claim 16 wherein the intention determination engine receives feedback from a dialog manager concerning the user's intentions.

18. The mobile communication device of claim 15 wherein the intention n-grams are at least one of: bigrams, trigrams, four-grams, and five-grams and include attributes used by the intention determination engine to determine the user's intentions.

19. The mobile communication device of claim 15 wherein the linguistic representations are at least one of: words, morphemes, syllables, phones, phonemes, articulatory distinctive features, and acoustic distinctive features of at least one language.

20. The mobile communication device of claim 15 wherein the mobile communication device is one of: a wireless telephone, a mobile telephone, a cellular telephone, a wireless radio, a portable computer, a laptop, an MP3 player, a satellite radio, and a satellite television.