IP Library Granted Patent US 8,442,834
Granted Patent B2
US 8,442,834 · App. 13/587,554 · Granted May 14, 2013

System and method of providing a spoken dialog interface to a website

View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,442,834
App. No.
13/587,554
Granted
May 14, 2013
Kind
B2
Abstract

Disclosed is a method for training a spoken dialog service component from website data. Spoken dialog service components typically include an automatic speech recognition module, a language understanding module, a dialog management module, a language generation module and a text-to-speech module. The method includes selecting anchor texts within a website based on a term density, weighting those anchor texts based on a percent of salient words to total words, and incorporating the weighted anchor texts into a live spoken dialog interface, the weights determining a level of incorporation into the live spoken dialog interface.

Claims (46)

1. A method comprising:

selecting an anchor text in a website based on a term density, wherein the anchor text is a hyperlink to another webpage, to yield a selected anchor text;

weighting the selected anchor text with a weight based on a percent of salient words to total words, to yield a weighted anchor text; and

incorporating the weighted anchor text into a live spoken dialog interface with a user, wherein the weight determines a level of incorporation into the live spoken dialog interface.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

extracting from the website a linguistic item; and

wherein the level of incorporation is further based on the linguistic item.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

generating a website specific language model using the linguistic item and the weighted anchor text.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

integrating the website specific language model into the live spoken dialog interface.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the linguistic item comprises one of a named-entity, a nominal phrase, a verbal phrase, and an adjectival phrase.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

computing an alias comprising a best representative anchor text from a plurality of weighted anchor texts.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the best representative anchor text has a weight associated with a highest ratio of salient words to total words from the plurality of weighted anchor texts.

8. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

selecting an anchor text in a website based on a term density, wherein the anchor text is a hyperlink to another webpage, to yield a selected anchor text;

weighting the selected anchor text with a weight based on a percent of salient words to total words, to yield a weighted anchor text; and

incorporating the weighted anchor text into a live spoken dialog interface with a user, wherein the weight determines a level of incorporation into the live spoken dialog interface.

9. The system of claim 8 , the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which result in the operations further comprising:

extracting from the website a linguistic item; and

wherein the level of incorporation is further based on the linguistic item.

10. The system of claim 9 , the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which result in the operations further comprising:

generating a website specific language model using the linguistic item and the weighted anchor text.

11. The system of claim 10 , the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which result in the operations further comprising:

integrating the website specific language model into the live spoken dialog interface.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the linguistic item comprises one of a named-entity, a nominal phrase, a verbal phrase, and an adjectival phrase.

13. The system of claim 8 , the computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which result in the operations further comprising:

computing an alias comprising a best representative anchor text from a plurality of weighted anchor texts.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the best representative anchor text has a weight associated with a highest ratio of salient words to total words from the plurality of weighted anchor texts.

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

selecting an anchor text in a website based on a term density, wherein the anchor text is a hyperlink to another webpage, to yield a selected anchor text;

weighting the selected anchor text with a weight based on a percent of salient words to total words, to yield a weighted anchor text; and

incorporating the weighted anchor text into a live spoken dialog interface with a user, wherein the weight determines a level of incorporation into the live spoken dialog interface.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , having additional instructions stored which result in the operations further comprising:

extracting from the website a linguistic item; and

wherein the level of incorporation is further based on the linguistic item.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , having additional instructions stored which result in the operations further comprising:

generating a website specific language model using the linguistic item and the weighted anchor text.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , having additional instructions stored which result in the operations further comprising:

integrating the website specific language model into the live spoken dialog interface.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the linguistic item comprises one of a named-entity, a nominal phrase, a verbal phrase, and an adjectival phrase.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , having additional instructions stored which result in the operations further comprising:

computing an alias comprising a best representative anchor text from a plurality of weighted anchor texts.

Assignments (5)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 9, 2023
From: NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
To: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
Reel/Frame 065533/0389 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 26, 2017
From: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY II, L.P.
To: NUANCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
Reel/Frame 041512/0608 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 28, 2016
From: AT&T CORP.
To: AT&T PROPERTIES, LLC
Reel/Frame 038275/0041 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 28, 2016
From: AT&T PROPERTIES, LLC
To: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY II, L.P.
Reel/Frame 038275/0130 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 16, 2012
From: BANGALORE, SRINIVAS; FENG, JUNLAN; RAHIM, MAZIN G.
To: AT&T CORP.
Reel/Frame 028799/0797 →