IP Library Granted Patent US 8,612,234
Granted Patent B2
US 8,612,234 · App. 13/279,443 · Granted Dec 17, 2013

Multi-state barge-in models for spoken dialog systems

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,612,234
App. No.
13/279,443
Granted
Dec 17, 2013
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method is disclosed for applying a multi-state barge-in acoustic model in a spoken dialogue system. The method includes receiving an audio speech input from the user during the presentation of a prompt, accumulating the audio speech input from the user, applying a non-speech component having at least two one-state Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) to the audio speech input from the user, applying a speech component having at least five three-state HMMs to the audio speech input from the user, in which each of the five three-state HMMs represents a different phonetic category, determining whether the audio speech input is a barge-in-speech input from the user, and if the audio speech input is determined to be the barge-in-speech input from the user, terminating the presentation of the prompt.

Claims (37)

1. A method comprising:

receiving an input having a speech segment and a non-speech segment;

establishing a first restriction of recognizing only speech states during the speech segment;

establishing a second restriction of recognizing only non-speech states during the non-speech segment;

generating, via a processor, a hypothesis lattice, wherein the hypothesis lattice allows any sequence of speech states and non-speech states; and

generating a reference lattice, wherein the reference lattice is based on the hypothesis lattice and conforms to the first restriction and the second restriction.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the speech states and the non-speech states are Hidden Markov Models.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising employing the reference lattice as a barge-in model for speech processing.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the barge-in model is trained using a maximum likelihood training on data partitioned into the speech segment and the non-speech segment.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the maximum likelihood training determines maximum likelihood based on shared data between the speech segment and the non-speech segment.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference lattice is redefined at each iteration of training

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein of the first restriction and the second restriction allows for re-alignment due to mislabeling of the input.

8. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving an input having a speech segment and a non-speech segment;

establishing a first restriction of recognizing only speech states during the speech segment;

establishing a second restriction of recognizing only non-speech states during the non-speech segment;

generating a hypothesis lattice, wherein the hypothesis lattice allows any sequence of speech states and non-speech states; and

generating a reference lattice, wherein the reference lattice is based on the hypothesis lattice and conforms to the first restriction and the second restriction.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the speech states and the non-speech states are Hidden Markov Models.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the storage device has additional instructions stored which result in the operations further comprising employing the reference lattice as a barge-in model for speech processing.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the barge-in model is trained using a maximum likelihood training on data partitioned into the speech segment and the non-speech segment.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the maximum likelihood training determines maximum likelihood based on shared data between the speech segment and the non-speech segment.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the reference lattice is redefined at each iteration of training

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein of the first restriction and the second restriction allows for re-alignment due to mislabeling of the input.

15. A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving an input having a speech segment and a non-speech segment;

establishing a first restriction of recognizing only speech states during the speech segment;

establishing a second restriction of recognizing only non-speech states during the non-speech segment;

generating a hypothesis lattice, wherein the hypothesis lattice allows any sequence of speech states and non-speech states; and

generating a reference lattice, wherein the reference lattice is based on the hypothesis lattice and conforms to the first restriction and the second restriction.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein the speech states and the non-speech states are Hidden Markov Models.

17. The non transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , the computer readable storage device having additional instructions stored which result in the operations further comprising employing the reference lattice as a barge-in model for speech processing.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17 , wherein the barge-in model is trained using a maximum likelihood training on data partitioned into the speech segment and the non-speech segment.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , wherein the maximum likelihood training determines maximum likelihood based on shared data between the speech segment and the non-speech segment.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15 , wherein the reference lattice is redefined at each iteration of training.

Assignments (3)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 26, 2017
From: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P.
To: NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 041498/0113 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 26, 2016
From: AT&T LABS, INC.
To: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P.
Reel/Frame 038107/0915 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 24, 2011
From: LJOLJE, ANDREJ
To: AT&T LABS, INC.
Reel/Frame 027106/0499 →