1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to voice activated directory assistance systems, and more particularly to disambiguation methodology for voice activated directory assistance systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Voice activated directory assistance systems provide for directory assistance by requiring the caller to speak the name of the person who is being called. The voice activated directory assistance (VADA) system sometimes cannot discriminate between two or more names in the list of names due to ambiguations between names in the directory. Ambiguations can be the result of more than one person having the same or a closely similar name. Phonetic similarity is all that is necessary for an ambiguation to occur, which will prevent the VADA system from assigning an appropriate name to the request of a caller. Ambiguations can also be due in part to misrecognitions of the speech recognition system, which forms part of the VADA system.
VADA systems resolve ambiguations by different methods. The VADA system can present a list of the names included in the ambiguation to the caller, and ask the caller to choose between the names based upon a criteria. This criteria can be any suitable criteria such as the department, telephone number, or job description of the named person. For example, the following employees are in the company XYZ directory:
When the caller asks for “John Smith,” and an ambiguation scenario results due to the presence of two persons under the same name in the company directory. A solution to this problem has been to identify each name in the ambiguation and provide disambiguation information to assist the caller in selecting the correct person. A script might be as follows:
The advantage of this solution is that the disambiguation criteria can be a mandatory field, so that all employees will have this field in their database entry. The disadvantages of this solution are that the caller may not know if John Smith works for Department A or B. Also, the disambiguation field could be the same for all persons found. The disambiguation field for Brent Davis and Brent L. Davis would, for example, both be Department B.
A method for correcting ambiguations in directory assistance systems comprises the steps of receiving and processing a directory assistance request from a caller, where the request results in an ambiguation of at least two names. Disambiguation information is audibly provided to the caller. The presentation includes at least in part the playback of an audio recording of at least one person included in the ambiguation. The voice of the person included in the ambiguation helps the caller to resolve the ambiguation, such that a selection of a name is received from the caller to correct the ambiguation. The playback can include an audio recording of the person stating their name. In another aspect, a message from the person named can be provided, and this message can include the name of the person.
The directory assistance system is preferably a voice activated directory assistance system. It is possible, however, to utilize the invention in a directory assistance system which is not voice activated, such as a key-in directory assistance system. The use of audio playback by persons included in an ambiguation will help to resolve the ambiguation in such systems. The disambiguation information can further include additional information for resolving an ambiguation. Such additional information can include at least one of department information, location information, job description information, and personal information.
A directory assistance system according to the invention includes a searchable directory for storing directory information; a database of audio recordings, each audio recording corresponding to an entry in the searchable directory; a query system for searching the directory for a particular entry based on received directory assistance requests; and, a disambiguation system for retrieving and playing back selected ones of the audio recordings in the database responsive to the query system locating multiple entries during a directory search. The directory assistance can further include a speech recognition system for converting spoken queries into computer-processable queries for use by the query system. As such, in one aspect of the invention, the directory assistance system can be a voice activated directory assistance system.
Notably, each audio recording can include a person stating their name. Alternatively, the audio recordings can include voice messages. The database of audio recordings also can include additional information for selecting between names in an ambiguation. The additional information can include at least one of department information, location information, job description information, and personal information. Finally, the directory assistance system can include structure for connecting a caller of the directory assistance system to a telephone associated with a located entry in the searchable directory.
There are shown in the drawings embodiments which are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown, wherein:
A system for resolving ambiguations in voice activated directory assistance (VADA) systems is shown in
In operation, a caller 20 can speak the name of a person and the speech recognition system 18 can translate this speech into text using speech recognition system 18. The name spoken by the caller 20 is then processed further by the VADA 14. More particularly, the name spoken by the caller 20 can be searched in the names list 24. Notably, ambiguations occur when the VADA system 14 locates one or more names in the names list 24 in response to the request of the caller 20. This can be the result of multiple names appearing in the names list 24, the phonetic similarity of names in the names list 24, or misrecognition by the speech recognition system 18. To assist in disambiguating the spoken name, audio information 30 comprising an audio recording of each person located in the names list 24 can be played back for the caller 20. The caller 20, upon hearing the voice of a person included during the disambiguation process, can correctly identify the intended person which corresponds to the spoken name. The caller then can select the appropriate name, and is provided with a connection 34 to the selected person.
In one aspect of the present invention, the audio information 30 associated with a particular name in the names list 24 can include a recording of a person associated with the particular name stating the particular name. The audio information 30 also can include the person stating a message. The audio information 30 in another aspect of the present invention, can include additional information for assisting the caller in resolving the ambiguation. This additional information can include at least one of department information, location information, job description information, and present information about each person included in the ambiguation. Other information for identifying the named person could also be provided.
The invention has been illustrated with respect to a voice activated directory assistance system. In another aspect of the invention, however, the invention can be used with systems which are not voice activated, such as key-in activation systems. Accordingly, the audio playback facility of the present invention can have utility in such systems to help callers resolve ambiguations.
A method for resolving ambiguations in voice activated directory assistance systems is shown in
Specifically, in step 58, audio information for a first located name can be retrieved. In step 60, the audio information corresponding to the first located name can be played for the caller. If the caller identifies the person, a selection can be made by the caller. Notably, the selection can be voice activated or key activated. If in step 62 a selection has been made, in step 64 the caller can be connected to the particular person associated with the selected name. Otherwise, in step 66, audio information corresponding to a next located name can be retrieved and the process can continue until a selection is made.
Notably, the present invention can be realized in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The method of the present invention can be realized in a centralized fashion in one computer system, or in a distributed fashion where different elements are spread across several interconnected computer systems. Any kind of computer system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methods described herein is suited. A typical combination of hardware and software could be a general purpose computer system with a computer program that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computer system such that it carries out the methods described herein.
The present invention can also be embedded in a computer program product, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation of the methods described herein, and which when loaded in a computer system is able to carry out these methods. Computer program means or computer program in the present context means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of a set of instructions intended to cause a system having an information processing capability to perform a particular function either directly or after either or both of the following: a) conversion to another language, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different material form.
While the foregoing specification illustrates and describes the preferred embodiments of this invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction herein disclosed. The invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes. Accordingly, reference should be made to the following claims, rather than to the foregoing specification, as indicating the scope of the invention.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20020120452 A1 | Aug 2002 | US |