Recognition dictionary system and recognition dictionary system updating method

Abstract

A recognition dictionary system includes a variant term accumulation unit, a variant frequency analysis unit, and a recognition dictionary update unit. The variant term accumulation unit is configured to accumulate and store a first variant term that has a meaning equivalent to a base term stored in a recognition dictionary and has first character string information that is different from character string information of the base term. The variant frequency analysis unit is configured to analyze an occurrence frequency of the first variant term accumulated and stored in the variant term accumulation unit and to determine the first variant term as a principal variant term when the occurrence frequency is higher than a first prescribed value. The recognition dictionary update unit is configured to update the recognition dictionary to register the principal variant term in the recognition dictionary as being associated with the base term.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the attached drawings which form a part of this original disclosure:

FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram illustrating a recognition dictionary system in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an implementation of the recognition dictionary system in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an example of recognized term data that is stored in a recognition dictionary of the recognition dictionary system in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows a several examples of dialog between a user and an operator for setting a destination in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an example of data stored in an operator log storage unit of an operator service system of the recognition dictionary system in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a variant term detecting process executed in a variant term detection unit of a dictionary updating system of the recognition dictionary system in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of data stored in a variant term accumulation unit of the dictionary updating system of the recognition dictionary system in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a table showing an example of variant frequency analysis executed by a variant frequency analysis unit of the dictionary updating system of the recognition dictionary system in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a series of charts illustrating results of a time series analysis of the variant frequency executed by a variant frequency analysis unit of the dictionary updating system of the recognition dictionary system in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a recognition dictionary updating process executed in the recognition dictionary system in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the recognized term data based on variant terms stored in the recognition dictionary of the recognition dictionary system after updating the recognition dictionary in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of an example of the data stored in the operator log storage unit in which user attributes are taken into consideration in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is an overall block diagram illustrating a recognition dictionary system in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 shows a several examples of dialog between a speech recognition system and a user for setting a destination in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of cumulative variant term data stored in a variant term accumulation unit of a dictionary updating system of the recognition dictionary system in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of phoneme string clustering utilized in the recognition dictionary system in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a series of schematic diagrams illustrating an example of variant frequency analysis process executed in a variant frequency analysis unit of the dictionary updating system of the recognition dictionary system in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram illustrating recognized term data stored in a recognition dictionary of the recognition dictionary system in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 19 is an overall block diagram illustrating a recognition dictionary system in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 20 shows a several examples of dialogue between a speech recognition system and a user for setting a destination in accordance with the third embodiment of the present invention.

Claims

1. A recognition dictionary system comprising: a variant term accumulation unit configured to accumulate and store a first variant term that has a meaning equivalent to a base term stored in a recognition dictionary and has first character string information that is different from character string information of the base term;a variant frequency analysis unit configured to analyze an occurrence frequency of the first variant term accumulated and stored in the variant term accumulation unit and to determine the first variant term as a principal variant term when the occurrence frequency is higher than a first prescribed value; anda recognition dictionary update unit configured to update the recognition dictionary to register the principal variant term in the recognition dictionary as being associated with the base term.

2. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a client terminal including the recognition dictionary that stores at least the character string information of the base term, anda server terminal connected to the client terminal by a communication network including the variant term accumulation unit, the variant frequency analysis unit and a recognition dictionary update unit.

3. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 2, wherein the client terminal further includes a character string information input unit including a speech input unit configured and arranged to accept an input of an uttered speech by a user, anda speech recognition unit configured to extract character string information corresponding to a term included in the uttered speech by the user,the server terminal further includes a phoneme recognition unit configured to transform the input of the uttered speech including the first variant term accepted by the speech input unit into first phoneme string information corresponding to the first variant term, andthe variant term accumulation unit of the server terminal is further configured to accumulate and store the first variant term including the first phoneme string information.

4. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 3, wherein the variant frequency analysis unit of the server terminal is configured to categorize the first variant term by the first phoneme string information based on an inter-phoneme distance with respect to other variant terms of the base term stored in the variant term accumulation unit when analyzing the occurrence frequency of the first variant term.

5. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 4, wherein one of the client terminal and the server terminal includes a variant term detection unit configured to detect the first variant term and a second variant term having a meaning equivalent to the base term and including second phoneme string information that is different from phoneme string information of the base term, and to register the second variant term in the registration dictionary as being associated with the base term,the recognition dictionary update unit is further configured to update the recognition dictionary to register the principal variant term in the recognition dictionary as being associated with the second variant term when the first phoneme string information of the principal variant term does not perfectly match the second phoneme string information of the second variant term but the first phoneme string information of the principal variant term is within a prescribed inter-phoneme distance of the second phoneme string information of the second variant term.

6. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 5, wherein the client terminal is configured to present the principal variant term to the user when the uttered speed by the user includes the second variant term.

7. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 2, wherein one of the client terminal and the server terminal further includes a comprehension control unit configured to determine a response to a user of the client terminal, the comprehension control unit being further configured to detect whether a first term corresponding to information received by (n)th input by the user is not registered in the recognition dictionary,output a response that prompts at least (n+1)th input by the user upon detecting that the first term is not registered in the recognition dictionary,detect whether a second term corresponding to information received by the (n+1)th input or subsequent input by the user matches the base term stored in the recognition dictionary, anddetermine input character string information of the first term upon detecting that the second term matches the base term, andone of the client terminal and the server terminal further includes a variant term detection unit configured to detect the first term as the first variant term when the second term matches the base term stored in the recognition dictionary.

8. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 7, wherein the comprehension control unit is configured to present a confirmation response to the information received by the (n)th input by the user, and to detect that the first term is not registered in the recognition dictionary if the information received by the (n+1)th input by the user in response to the confirmation response includes at least one of a correction expression and a negative expression.

9. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 8, wherein the client terminal further includes a speech input unit configured and arranged to accept an input of an uttered speech by the user, anda speech recognition unit configured to recognize a recognition term candidate having a prescribed recognition score from the uttered speech by the user as the first variant term, andthe comprehension control unit is configured to detect the first term is not registered in the recognition dictionary when the recognition term candidate is not obtained by the uttered speech in the (n) the input by the user.

10. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 9, wherein the comprehension control unit is configured to output a verification response to confirm with the user that the first term is a variant term of the base term upon detecting that the second term matches the base term stored in the recognition dictionary, andthe variant term detection unit is configured to determine the first term as the first variant term when a response by the user to the verification response indicates that the user positively acknowledges that the first term is the variant term of the base term.

11. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 10, wherein the comprehension control unit is configured to output a response that prompts the at least (n+1)th input other than the input of the uttered speech upon detecting that the first term is not registered in the recognition dictionary.

12. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 2, wherein the variant frequency analysis unit is configured to refer to the variant term accumulation unit at a prescribed time interval, the variant frequency analysis unit being further configured to determine that the first variant term is a deletion target variant term when the occurrence frequency of the variant term falls below a second prescribed value that is smaller than the first prescribed value, andthe recognition dictionary update unit is further configured to delete the first variant term from the recognition dictionary when the variant frequency analysis unit determines that the first variant term is the deletion target variant term.

13. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 2, wherein the client terminal is configured to accept information corresponding to the first variant term that is input by a user for setting a destination with a navigation system.

14. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 13, wherein the variant term accumulation unit is configured to accumulate and store user attribute information including at least one of a residential area, an age bracket, a family composition, and a vehicle attribute of the user with the user attribute information being associated with the base term,the variant frequency analysis unit is configured to analyze the occurrence frequency of the first variant term for each user-attribute information, and to determine the principal variant term for each user attribute information, andthe recognition dictionary update unit is configured to register the principal variant term in the recognition dictionary used by the user to whom the user attribute information corresponding to the principal variant term belongs.

15. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 13, wherein one of the client terminal and the server terminal includes a variant term detection unit configured and arranged to detect the first variant term based on a dialog between the user and an operator.

16. The recognition dictionary system as recited in claim 15, wherein the server terminal is configured to store a dialog log when information corresponding to the base term is determined as the destination by the dialog between the user and the operator, andthe variant term detection unit is configured to detect the first variant term based on the dialog log.

17. A recognition dictionary system comprising: a comprehension control unit configured to detect whether a first term corresponding to information received by (n)th input by a user matches a base term stored in a recognition dictionary that stores at least character string information of the base term,output a response that prompts at least (n+1)th input by the user upon detecting that the first term does not match the base term, detect whether a second term corresponding to information received by the (n+1) or subsequent input by the user matches the base term, anddetermine input character string information upon detecting that the second term matches the base term;a variant term detection unit configured to determine that the first term is a variant term that has a meaning equivalent to the base term but has different character string information from the character string information of the base term when the second term matches the base term, and to extract the first term as being associated with the base term;a variant term accumulation unit configured to accumulate and store the variant term extracted by the variant term detection unit;a variant frequency analysis unit configured to analyze an occurrence frequency of the variant term with reference to the variant term accumulation unit, and to determine the variant term as a principal variant term when the occurrence frequency is higher than a first prescribed value; anda recognition dictionary update unit configured to update the recognition dictionary to register the principal variant term in the recognition dictionary as being associated with the base term.

18. A recognition dictionary system comprising: variant term detecting means for detecting a first term inputted by user as a variant term of a base term stored in a recognition dictionary when the first term has a meaning equivalent to the base term but has different character string information from character string information of the base term stored in the recognition dictionary;variant term accumulating means for accumulating and storing the variant term;frequency occurrence analyzing means for analyzing an occurrence frequency of the variant term accumulated and stored, and to determine the variant term as a principal variant term when the occurrence frequency is higher than a first prescribed value; anddictionary updating means for updating the recognition dictionary to register the principal variant term in the recognition dictionary as being associated with the base term.

19. A recognition dictionary system updating method comprising: detecting a first term inputted by user as a variant term of a base term stored in a recognition dictionary when the first term has a meaning equivalent to the base term but has different character string information from character string information of the base term stored in the recognition dictionary;accumulating and storing the variant term;analyzing an occurrence frequency of the variant term accumulated and stored, and to determine the variant term as a principal variant term when the occurrence frequency is higher than a first prescribed value; andupdating the recognition dictionary to register the principal variant term in the recognition dictionary as being associated with the base term.