Method and apparatus for creating modifiable and combinable speech objects for acquiring information from a speaker in an interactive voice response system

US6314402A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Nuance Communications, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Peter Monaco · Bishop, US
• Steven C. Ehrlich · Burlingame, US
• Debajit Ghosh · Menlo Park, US
• Mark Klenk · Saratoga, US
• Julian Sinai · Palo Alto, US
• Madhavan Thirumalai · San Francisco, US
• Sundeep Gupta · Jamkhed, IN

Key dates

• Filing date: Apr 23, 1999
• Grant date: Nov 6, 2001
• Expiry date: Apr 23, 2019

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04M3/493
• WIPO field: Telecommunications
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A method and apparatus for creating modifiable and combinable Speech Objects for use in an interactive voice response (IVR) environment. Each Speech Object is for acquiring a particular type of information from a speaker during an interaction between the speaker and a speech recognition mechanism. A Speech Object is an instantiation of a user-extensible class that includes properties, such as prompts and grammars, associated with the corresponding type of interaction. A Speech Object further includes logic for controlling the interaction with the user when executed in a processing system. A Speech Object can be subclassed to add additional properties and functionality to create customized Speech Objects, or such properties can be altered at runtime. Multiple Speech Objects, each for acquiring a particular type of information, can be combined to form a compound Speech Object.