IP Library Granted Patent US 8,612,212
Granted Patent B2
US 8,612,212 · App. 13/784,086 · Granted Dec 17, 2013

Method and system for automatically detecting morphemes in a task classification system using lattices

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,612,212
App. No.
13/784,086
Granted
Dec 17, 2013
Kind
B2
Abstract

The invention concerns a method and corresponding system for building a phonotactic model for domain independent speech recognition. The method may include recognizing phones from a user's input communication using a current phonotactic model, detecting morphemes (acoustic and/or non-acoustic) from the recognized phones, and outputting the detected morphemes for processing. The method also updates the phonotactic model with the detected morphemes and stores the new model in a database for use by the system during the next user interaction. The method may also include making task-type classification decisions based on the detected morphemes from the user's input communication.

Claims (34)

1. A method comprising:

recognizing phonemes from a user input using a current phonotactic model stored in a database, to yield recognized phonemes;

detecting morphemes from the recognized phonemes;

creating, via a processor, a new phonotactic model by transforming, using the morphemes, a prior probability distribution associated with a first domain to a prior probability distribution associated with a second domain; and

replacing the current phonotactic model with the new phonotactic model in the database.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the morphemes comprise one of verbal speech and non-verbal speech.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the non-verbal speech comprises using one of a gesture, a body movement, a head movement, a non-response, text, a keyboard entry, a keypad entry, a mouse click, a dual-tone machine frequency code, a pointer, a stylus, a graphical user interface, and a touchscreen entry.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the user input further comprises an environment of the user.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the morphemes are expressed in multimodal form.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the morphemes in the user input are derived from an action of the user.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the action of the user comprises a focus of attention of the user.

8. The method of claim 1 , operating in conjunction with one of a telephone network, Internet, an intranet, a cable television network, a local area network, and a wireless communication network.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is used for customer care purposes.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the morphemes are detected using a measure of commonality within a language of the morphemes.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting of the morphemes comprises using a confidence function.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the new phonotactic model is used when recognizing phonemes for a future input from the user.

13. 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:

recognizing phonemes from a user input using a current phonotactic model stored in a database, to yield recognized phonemes;

detecting morphemes from the recognized phonemes;

creating, via a processor, a new phonotactic model by transforming, using the morphemes, a prior probability distribution associated with a first domain to a prior probability distribution associated with a second domain; and

replacing the current phonotactic model with the new phonotactic model in the database.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the morphemes comprise one of verbal speech and non-verbal speech.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the non-verbal speech comprises using one of a gesture, a body movement, a head movement, a non-response, text, a keyboard entry, a keypad entry, a mouse click, a dual-tone machine frequency code, a pointer, a stylus, a graphical user interface, and a touchscreen entry.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the user input further comprises an environment of the user.

17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the morphemes are expressed in multimodal form.

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

recognizing phonemes from a user input using a current phonotactic model stored in a database, to yield recognized phonemes;

detecting morphemes from the recognized phonemes;

creating, via a processor, a new phonotactic model by transforming, using the morphemes, a prior probability distribution associated with a first domain to a prior probability distribution associated with a second domain; and

replacing the current phonotactic model with the new phonotactic model in the database.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , wherein the detecting of the morphemes comprises using a confidence function.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18 , wherein the new phonotactic model is used when recognizing phonemes for a future input from the user.

Assignments (4)
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 Nov 19, 2015
From: AT&T CORP.
To: AT&T PROPERTIES, LLC
Reel/Frame 037090/0931 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 19, 2015
From: AT&T PROPERTIES, LLC
To: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY II, L.P.
Reel/Frame 037091/0047 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 4, 2013
From: RICCARDI, GIUSEPPE
To: AT&T CORP.
Reel/Frame 029916/0648 →