Patent · US Expired

Conversational data mining

US6665644B1 · kind B1 · utility

367Cited by
13References
31Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 10, 1999
Grant dateDec 16, 2003
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 10, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04M2201/40
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method for collecting data associated with the voice of a voice system user includes conducting a plurality of conversations with a plurality of voice system users. For each conversation, a speech waveform is captured and digitized, and at least one acoustic feature is extracted. The features are correlated with at least one attribute such as gender, age, accent, native language, dialect, socioeconomic classification, educational level and emotional state. Attribute data and at least one identifying indicia are stored for each user in a data warehouse, in a form to facilitate subsequent data mining thereon. The resulting collection of stored data is then mined to provide information for modifying underlying business logic of the voice system. An apparatus suitable for carrying out the method includes a dialog management unit, an audio capture module, an acoustic from end, a processing module and a data warehouse. Appropriate method steps can be implemented by a digital computer running a suitable program stored on a program storage device.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.