Method for speech-based data retrieval on portable devices

1. A method of speech-based data retrieval from a portable communication device having access to a plug-in memory card dataset that has been semantically indexed for a non-natural language topical domain, comprising the steps of:

a) converting one or more spoken keywords related to the non-natural language topical domain into a query word signal;

b) linking the query word signal to one or more related index words stored in the semantically indexed plug-in memory card dataset;

c) retrieving a data file stored in the semantically indexed plug-in memory card dataset that is associated with the one or more linked index words; and

d) processing the retrieved data file for presentation.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein semantic indexing of a non-natural language subset of the dataset comprises associating a list of m index words (w Tn 1 , w Tn 2 , . . . w Tn m ) with a corresponding data file T n .

3. The method of claim 2 wherein each of the m index words has an association with the non-natural language data in file T n .

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the linking step comprises associating the query word signal with index words that are related in meaning to the query word signal.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the processing step comprises generating a visual display of the retrieved data file.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the processing step comprises generating an audible output of the retrieved data file.

7. A speech-based portable communication device, comprising:

an accessible dataset having semantically indexed data files related to a lexicon of keywords, wherein the dataset is implemented on a plug-in memory card;

a speech recognition and search system configured to link one or more of the lexicon of keywords to semantically related non-natural language data in the accessible dataset;

a processor configured to retrieve the keyword-linked data from the accessible dataset and to process the retrieved data for presentation; and

an output device configured to receive the processed data from the processor and to present the processed data.

8. The portable communication device of claim 7 wherein the speech recognition and search system is activated by human speech.

9. The portable communication device of claim 7 wherein the output device is configured to present the processed data as a visual display.

10. The portable communication device of claim 7 wherein the output device is configured to present the processed data in audible form.

11. The portable communication device of claim 7 wherein the lexicon of keywords is intuitively related to the semantic index of data files in the accessible dataset.

12. The portable communication device of claim 7 wherein the accessible dataset comprises a non-natural language topical domain.

13. The portable communication device of claim 7 wherein the accessible dataset is configured to communicate with the portable communication device via a remote network.

14. The portable communication device of claim 13 wherein the remote network is a wireless network.

15. A method of speech-based data retrieval from a portable communication device having access to a plug-in memory card dataset that has been semantically indexed for a non-natural language topical domain, comprising the steps of:

a) converting one or more spoken keywords related to the non-natural language topical domain into a query word signal;

b) linking the query word signal to synonyms of one or more related index words stored in the semantically indexed plug-in memory card dataset;

c) linking the synonyms of the one or more related index words to their respective one or more related index words;

d) retrieving a data file stored in the semantically indexed plug-in memory card dataset that is associated with the one or more related index words; and

e) processing the retrieved data file for presentation.