Method and apparatus for adding new vocabulary to interactive translation and dialogue systems

1. A method for adding a new word to a vocabulary of an interactive computing system comprising one or more computing devices, the method comprising, with the interactive computing system:

receiving a first input signal, the first input signal comprising speech;

generating a recognition result comprising text corresponding to at least a portion of the input signal;

with the recognition result, identifying a new word to add to the vocabulary of the interactive computing system, the vocabulary comprising a compiled component and an uninstantiated placeholder class in a search graph;

instantiating the placeholder class with the new word;

compiling the instantiated placeholder class independently of the compiled component of the vocabulary;

receiving a second input signal, the second input signal comprising speech; and

comparing the instantiated placeholder class to a portion of the second received input signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying a pronunciation for the new word; and associating the pronunciation with the new word prior to the compiling.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising receiving the pronunciation from a user.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising generating a plurality of potential pronunciations based on a spelling of the new word; and selecting one of the plurality of potential pronunciations that best matches the new word as pronounced by a user.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

associating a translation with the new word.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the associating further comprises: receiving the translation from a user.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the associating further comprises: retrieving the translation from a dictionary.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein compiling the instantiated placeholder class produces a new sub-grammar, and the method comprises outputting the new sub-grammar to a recognition processor.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein compiling the instantiated placeholder class produces a dynamic component of a search graph, and wherein the dynamic component and the compiled component are different components of the search graph.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the compiled component comprises a main grammar of the vocabulary, compiling the instantiated placeholder class produces a sub-grammar of the vocabulary, and the sub-grammar is smaller in size than the main grammar.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein compiling the instantiated placeholder class produces a dynamic component of the vocabulary, and the method comprises rescoring the recognition result using the dynamic component of the vocabulary.

12. A language processing module for adding a new word to a vocabulary, the language processing module embodied in one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media and configured to cause a computing device to:

receive a first input signal, the first input signal comprising speech;

generate a recognition result comprising text corresponding to at least a portion of the input signal;

with the recognition result, identify a new word to add to the vocabulary of the interactive computing system, the vocabulary comprising a compiled component and an uninstantiated placeholder class in a search graph;

instantiate the placeholder class with the new word;

compile the instantiated placeholder class independently of the compiled component of the vocabulary;

receive a second input signal, the second input signal comprising speech; and

compare the instantiated placeholder class to a portion of the second received input signal.

13. The language processing module of claim 12 , further comprising: identifying a pronunciation for the new word; and associating the pronunciation with the new word prior to the compiling.

14. The language processing module of claim 13 , wherein the identifying comprises receiving the pronunciation from a user.

15. The language processing module of claim 13 , wherein the identifying comprises: generating a plurality of potential pronunciations based on a spelling of the new word; and;

selecting one of the plurality of potential pronunciations that best matches the at least one word as pronounced by a user.

16. The language processing module of claim 12 , further comprising: associating a translation with the new word.

17. The language processing module of claim 16 , wherein the associating comprises: receiving the translation from a user.

18. The language processing module of claim 16 , wherein the associating comprises: retrieving the translation from a dictionary.

19. The language processing module of claim 12 , further comprising: outputting a new subgrammar to a recognition processor.

20. An interactive dialogue system, the system comprising an input device configured to receive a first signal, wherein the first signal comprises speech; and

a language processing module embodied in one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media, the language processing module configured to cause a computing device of the interactive dialogue system to:

generate a recognition result compiling text corresponding to at least a portion of the received first signal; and

with the recognition result:

identify a new word to add to the vocabulary of the interactive computing system, the vocabulary comprising a compiled component and an uninstantiated placeholder class in a search graph;

instantiate the placeholder class with the new word;

compile the instantiated placeholder class independently of the compiled component of the vocabulary;

receive a second signal, the second signal comprising speech; and

compare the instantiated placeholder class to a portion of the second received signal.