Multimedia search application for a mobile device

1. A mobile device, comprising:

a display screen configured to display multimedia content;

a microphone to detect user speech of a user and provide an audio signal indicative of the user speech;

an automated speech recognition engine;

a speech enabled application configured to:

provide the audio signal to the automated speech recognition engine;

receive from the automated speech recognition engine, a search term;

provide the search term to a multimedia search engine;

obtain from the multimedia search engine, a search result indicative of a particular program; and

obtain, from a multimedia library, at least a portion of the particular program; and

locally stored data indicative of particular programs indicated in previous search results obtained from the multimedia search engine;

wherein the automated speech recognition engine comprises a local speech recognition engine that is initially inactive and subsequently activated responsive to a number of locally stored speech recognition grammar entries exceeding an activation threshold.

2. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the automated speech recognition engine, once activated, attempts to recognize the user speech.

3. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device includes a voice library and wherein a search result obtained during voice browsing is based, at least in part, on matching the user speech with a voice included in the voice library.

4. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the speech enabled application supports a rating guard configured to block multimedia content that violates a rating restriction.

5. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the operations include:

querying the user by generating and displaying menus.

6. The mobile device of claim 5 , wherein the operations include:

querying the user based, at least in part, on a keypad entry provided by the user in response to at least one of the menus.

7. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device is configured to:

display the portion of the particular program on the display screen.

8. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the multimedia library includes a first version of the particular program and a second version of the particular program, wherein the first version is suitable for a smaller display screen and the second version is suitable for a larger display screen and wherein the mobile device is configured to receive and display the first version in response to sending the search query.

9. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the automated speech recognition engine is configured to record the user speech.

10. The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein the operations include:

automatically updating a search result obtained from voice browsing the multimedia library.

11. A computer readable medium including processor executable program instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, comprising:

initializing a local speech recognizer of a mobile device with an inactive status;

receiving, from a microphone of the mobile device, an audio signal indicative of user speech, including a search term, associated with a user and detected by the microphone;

providing the audio signal to an automated speech recognizer to identify a search term, wherein providing the audio signal to the automated speech recognizer includes:

determining a status of a local speech recognizer;

responsive to determining the local speech recognizer has an active status, providing the audio signal to the local speech recognizer; and

responsive to determining the local speech recognizer has the inactive status, providing the audio signal to a network speech recognizer via a communication network;

sending the search term to a multimedia search engine configured to search, based on the search term, a multimedia library;

receiving a search result indicating a particular multimedia program associated with the search term; and

displaying the search result on a display screen of the mobile device;

storing vocabulary entries, based on words and phrases in at least one of: the search term and the search result, to a local vocabulary; and

activating the local speech recognizer when a number of the vocabulary entries exceeds a vocabulary threshold.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the local vocabulary includes data indicative of previously identified multimedia programs.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the operations include:

requesting an initial voice search page from a web server associated with the multimedia search engine; and

receiving the initial voice search page from the web server.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein:

a request for the initial voice search page includes identification information identifying at least one of: the user, the mobile device, a wireless service account associated with the mobile device, and a multimedia service account associated with the user; and

receipt of the initial voice search page is indicative of a verification of the identification information.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein: the search result comprises an intermediate search result and wherein the operations include:

sending a subsequent search query to the multimedia search engine; and

receiving a subsequent search result based on the subsequent search query.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the intermediate search result comprises a menu page.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the intermediate search is indicative of categories of multimedia content.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the operations include:

generating the subsequent search query based on a combination of:

an intermediate audio signal indicative of intermediate user speech; and

a keypad user input indicative of an entry by the user of an element of a keypad of the mobile device.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the multimedia search engine resides on a provider network configured to:

provide multimedia content services to the user; and

deliver multimedia content to a set top box associated with the user via a broadband network.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the operations include:

blocking multimedia content that violates a predetermined rating restriction.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the operations include:

storing the particular multimedia program locally for viewing.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the operations include:

determining whether to permit viewing of the locally stored particular multimedia program based on a condition selected from: a time period condition and number of viewings condition.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the operations include:

automatically updating the search result.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the operations include:

requesting delivery of the particular program.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 24 , wherein requesting the delivery of the particular multimedia program includes identifying a display device and requesting delivery of the particular multimedia program to the display device.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the display device is selected from: a set top box associated with a multimedia service provider and a wireless device associated with a wireless service provider.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the network speech recognizer and the multimedia search engine are included in a network server of the multimedia service provider.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 27 , wherein the communication network comprises a wireless communication network.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 28 , wherein the wireless communication network comprises a wireless telephone network operated by a wireless telephone service provider.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 29 , wherein a common provider includes the wireless telephone service provider and the multimedia service provider.

31. A multimedia search method, comprising:

initializing a local speech recognizer of a mobile device with an inactive status;

receiving, from a microphone of the mobile device, an audio signal indicative of user speech, including a search term, associated with a user and detected by the microphone;

providing the audio signal to an automated speech recognizer to identify a search term, wherein providing the audio signal to the automated speech recognizer includes:

determining a status of a local speech recognizer;

responsive to determining the local speech recognizer has an active status, providing the audio signal to the local speech recognizer; and

responsive to determining the local speech recognizer has the inactive status, providing the audio signal to a network speech recognizer via a communication network;

sending the search term to a multimedia search engine configured to search, based on the search term, a multimedia library;

receiving a search result indicating a particular multimedia program associated with the search term; and

displaying the search result on a display screen of the mobile device;

storing vocabulary entries, based on words and phrases in at least one of: the search term and the search result, to a local vocabulary; and

activating the local speech recognizer when a number of the vocabulary entries exceeds a vocabulary threshold.