Claims
- 1. A thematic segmentation tool comprising:
a transcription component configured to receive spoken audio information and convert the spoken audio information into a document of text corresponding to the spoken audio information; a linguistic detection component configured to generate linguistic information corresponding to the document produced by the transcription component based on the document and the spoken audio information; a topic classification component configured to generate topics relevant to the document; and a thematic decision component configured to generate indications of a plurality of thematic segments based on the linguistic information, the document, and the topics.
- 2. The thematic segmentation tool of claim 1, wherein the thematic segments include a hierarchical arrangement of multiple thematic segments.
- 3. The thematic segmentation tool of claim 1, wherein the thematic segments include multiple concurrent thematic segments generated for a portion of the document.
- 4. The thematic segmentation tool of claim 1, wherein the linguistic information includes visible linguistic information.
- 5. The thematic segmentation tool of claim 4, wherein the visible linguistic information includes at least one of periods and commas.
- 6. The thematic segmentation tool of claim 1, wherein the linguistic information includes non-visible linguistic information.
- 7. The thematic segmentation tool of claim 6, wherein the non-visible linguistic information includes phrasal boundary information.
- 8. The thematic segmentation tool of claim 1, wherein the topic classification component generates topics after training for topic generation using an unsupervised topic discovery mechanism.
- 9. The thematic segmentation tool of claim 1, wherein the thematic segments begin and end on linguistic boundaries.
- 10. The thematic segmentation tool of claim 1, further including:
a speaker boundary detection component configured to generate indications of speaker boundaries for the spoken audio information, wherein the thematic decision component uses the indications of speaker boundaries when generating the indications of the plurality of thematic segments.
- 11. A method for determining thematically coherent segments within a document, the method comprising:
receiving a document having associated linguistic information describing linguistic features of the document; and generating indications of thematically coherent segments within the document that occur at the linguistic features in the document.
- 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:
generating the document by transcribing speech.
- 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the document is additionally associated with topic information that summarizes topics relevant to the document.
- 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the document is additionally associated with speaker boundary information.
- 15. The method of claim 11, wherein the thematically coherent segments include a hierarchical arrangement of thematic segments.
- 16. The method of claim 11, wherein the thematically coherent segments include multiple concurrent thematic segments generated for a portion of the document.
- 17. The method of claim 11, wherein the linguistic information includes visible linguistic information.
- 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the visible linguistic information includes at least one of periods and commas.
- 19. The method of claim 11, wherein the linguistic information includes non-visible linguistic information.
- 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the non-visible linguistic information includes phrasal boundary information.
- 21. The method of claim 11, wherein the thematically coherent segments begin and end on linguistic boundaries defined by the linguistic information.
- 22. A computing device comprising:
a processor; and a computer memory coupled to the processor and containing programming instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:
associate linguistic information with a document, the linguistic information demarcating linguistic breaks within the document, generate, at a plurality of the linguistic breaks within the document, indications of thematically coherent segments, and output the thematically coherent segments associated with labels describing thematic content of the thematically coherent segments.
- 23. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the processor, additionally cause the processor to:
generate the document by transcribing speech.
- 24. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the document is additionally associated with topic information that summarizes topics relevant to the document.
- 25. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the document is additionally associated with speaker boundary information.
- 26. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the thematically coherent segments include a hierarchical arrangement of thematic segments.
- 27. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the thematically coherent segments include multiple concurrent thematic segments generated for a portion of the document.
- 28. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the linguistic information includes visible linguistic information.
- 29. The computing device of claim 28, wherein the visible linguistic information includes at least one of periods and commas.
- 30. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the linguistic information includes non-visible linguistic information.
- 31. The computing device of claim 30, wherein the non-visible linguistic information includes phrasal boundary information.
- 32. A device comprising:
means for associating linguistic information with a document, the linguistic information demarcating linguistic breaks within the document; and means for generating, at a plurality of the linguistic breaks within the document, indications of thematically coherent segments.
- 33. The device of claim 32, wherein the document is additionally associated with speaker boundary information and with topic information that summarizes topics relevant to the document.
- 34. A computer-readable medium containing program instructions for execution by a processor, the program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
obtain a document having associated linguistic information describing linguistic features of the document; and generate indications of thematically coherent segments within the document that occur at the linguistic features in the document.
- 35. The computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the document is additionally associated with speaker boundary information and with topic information that summarizes topics relevant to the document.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 based on U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 60/394,064 and 60/394,082 filed Jul. 3, 2002 and Provisional Application No. 60/419,214 filed Oct. 17, 2002, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
GOVERNMENT CONTRACT
[0002] The U.S. Government may have a paid-up license in this invention and the right in limited circumstances to require the patent owner to license others on reasonable terms as provided for by the terms of Contract No. N66001-00-C-8008 (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)).
Provisional Applications (3)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60394064 |
Jul 2002 |
US |
|
60394082 |
Jul 2002 |
US |
|
60419214 |
Oct 2002 |
US |