Abstract:
A system and method for navigating a dialog hierarchy from a voice user interface (VUI) using speech bookmarks. The method can detect a user spoken command for bookmarking a location within a dialog hierarchy of a voice response system. A user spoken bookmark can be received, which is added to a personalized bookmark grammar that is associated with a user who spoke the bookmark name. A database record can be used to associate the new bookmark name with a location within the dialog hierarchy. During a subsequent interaction between the user and the voice response system, the user can speak the bookmark name, which results in a match being detected between the spoken phrase and the personalized bookmark grammar. The voice response system can then navigate to the location within bookmark hierarchy that is associated with the speech bookmark.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to the field of speech processing and, more particularly, to establishing speech bookmarks in a voice user interface (VUI) using a speech recognition engine and acoustically generated baseforms. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    A voice user interface (VUI) is an interface of an audio input/output device through which users can interact with computing systems through voice/speech platform in order to initiate a self service application. There are currently two main variants of VUIs, natural language VUIs and menu driven VUIs. A natural language VUI uses natural language understanding (NLU) technologies to accept free-form voice input from a user, to convert this input to text, to determine an intended meaning for the input, and to map this meaning to one or more programmatic actions. Current NLU technologies are proprietary and based on vendor-specific technologies instead of open standards, consume tremendous amounts of computing resources, and often have trouble correctly mapping meaning to specific software elements of interest. A menu driven VUI uses a hierarchy of menus, each having many user selectable options which can branch a user to different menus and/or can trigger a related programmatic action to execute. 
         [0005]    In a menu driven VUI, navigating to a desired option can require a user to traverse a nested hierarchy of menus, until a desired option is available. Users can become quickly frustrated with delays incurred while navigating the dialog menus. Conventional navigation of menus results in longer than necessary communication sessions which consume infrastructure resources such as available communication ports and ability to handle additional calls. At present, no known automated response system or component permits users of a VUI to establish speech bookmarks to a user established point in a menu hierarchy. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]    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. 
           [0007]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a system that permits users to establish speech bookmarks, which are associated with a configurable position in a menu hierarchy of a speech processing system. 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a user interaction diagram illustrating a use of speech bookmarks in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a system  100  that permits users  110  to establish speech bookmarks which are associated with a configurable position in a menu hierarchy of a speech processing system  130 . Once a speech bookmark has been established, initiating the speech bookmark can cause a dialog flow of system  100  to skip to a previously configured dialog location. System  100  can be performed using speech  112  commands alone and does not rely upon keystrokes or Graphical User Interface (GUI) controls. An exclusive use of voice-only commands can be highly advantageous in hands-free situations where interactions through keystrokes or GUI controls may be unfeasible or, where available, I/O peripherals are limited or nonexistent. 
         [0010]    Use of speech bookmarks with a Voice User Interface (VUI)  124  leverages existing customer knowledge by providing a new navigation mechanism that is based upon known concepts typically associated with a GUI. That is, a typical user is somewhat familiar with Web-based bookmarks which are associated with Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) addressable locations accessible via a browser. Speech bookmarks use a similar concept, by permitting users to “bookmark” dialog menu locations using speech commands. 
         [0011]    Speech bookmarks can be utilized in any speech processing system  130  that is enabled for acoustic grammar generation (e.g., voice enrolled grammars). Thus, speech bookmarks can be used in directed menu-based interaction device  120  which do not necessarily include a speech processing system  130  with complex statistical language models and/or resource intensive Natural Language Understanding (NLU) technologies. For example, the speech processing system  130  can be an out-of-the-box or commercial off-the-shelf solution able to create acoustic baseforms during an enrollment session initiated when a user  110  elects to create a speech bookmark. A new acoustic baseform (e.g., speech bookmark) can be added to a personalized bookmark grammar, a voice enrolled grammar contained in a grammar data store  150 , during an enrollment phase. The personalized bookmark grammar can be specifically associated with the user  110  and a speech-enabled application  132 . The speech enabled application  132  can manage content conveyed through the VUI  124 . In one embodiment, the system  130  and VUI  124  can permit a user  110  to speak a previously stored speech bookmark at any time, which results in the dialog jumping to an associated dialog location. 
         [0012]    As shown in system  100 , a user  110  can convey speech  112  messages to an interaction device  120  (e.g., a telephone, a computer, or other such device) and receive automatically generated speech output  114 . The speech  112  can include voice commands to create new speech bookmarks and/or voice commands to use a previously stored speech bookmark. Audio signals can be received and generated using one or more transducers  122  (e.g., microphone and speaker) of the device  120 . VUI  124  can be a voice only and/or multimodal interface used for user  110  interactions with speech processing system  130 . 
         [0013]    The interaction device  120 , the speech processing system  130 , and data stores  150  and  152  can be communicatively linked via network  140 . Network  140  can include hardware/software/firmware necessary to convey digital information encoded within carrier waves. Network  140  can include line based and wireless communication pathways. 
         [0014]    The speech processing system  130  can include a speech recognition engine supporting voice and Dual Tone Multiple Frequency (DTMF) input. The speech recognition engine can include acoustic baseform services, such as those conforming to open standards (e.g., Media Resource Control Protocol Version 2). That is, users  110  can enroll new acoustic baseforms (e.g., speech bookmarks) in a personalized bookmark grammar in a grammar data store  150  used by the speech recognition engine. In one embodiment, the interaction device  120  can include a Voice XML Browser to interpret Voice XML based applications, such as automated response application  132 . Dialog menus can be written in a dialog language (e.g., Voice XML) and stored in the directed dialog store  152 . 
         [0015]    In one embodiment, different dialog locations  164  associated with speech bookmarks  160  can be URI links, as shown by table  157 . A phonetic representation  162  (stored in a personalized bookmark grammar in a grammar data store  150 ) for each speech bookmark can also be associated with each speech bookmark  160 . Different speech applications  132  and user  110  combinations can have a unique set of speech bookmarks, as shown by tables  154 - 157 . 
         [0016]      FIG. 2  is a user interaction diagram  200  illustrating a use of speech bookmarks in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. Dialog  200  can be performed in the context of a system  100  or any of a variety of systems configured to permit users to establish speech bookmarks. That is, the speech processing system can interact with a user through directed menu-driven dialogs. The user is able to establish speech bookmarks that are associated with dialog branches and user selectable options. After being established, a user can barge-in a dialog by speaking a previously established speech bookmark. Upon detection of a speech bookmark, the speech processing system can jump to the dialog branch associated with the voiced speech bookmark. 
         [0017]    The dialog  200  can include a number of user requests  210  and system interactions  215  which can be conducted via a VUI. In step  220 , a VUI announcement can play which prompts the user to enter a user identifier, which the user enters in step  222 . In step  224 , the VUI can prompt the user for a personal identification number (PIN) code, a password, an account number, or similar authorization code, which the user can provide in step  226 . Step  228  can begin after a user has been successfully authorized. In step  228 , a main menu prompt can be played along with a set of menu options and user selectors for these options. 
         [0018]    In step  230 , a user can say “Balance” to navigate to the first menu option. In step  232 , the VUI can play a menu of choices associated with a balance, such as “Checking”, “Savings”, “Money Market” or “Brokerage”. In step  234  a user can say “Checking” to indicate that they wish to receive a balance for their checking account. In step  236 , the VUI can present the checking account balance amount to the user. The user can say “bookmark” to establish a new speech bookmark in step  238 . In step  240 , the VUI can prompt the user for a bookmark word, which the user provides in step  242 . 
         [0019]    At this point, any of several tests and/or speech processing actions can be performed. For example, a test can be performed to ensure that the speech bookmark is not acoustically similar to other speech commands contained within a speech recognition grammar. This speech recognition grammar can include system defined commands and user specified ones. A separate or special variant of this test can determine whether the new bookmark word clashes or is acoustically similar to pre-existing speech bookmarks. When a clash occurs, a user can be prompted to change either the clashing pre-existing bookmark word or the new bookmark word. Additionally, a speech processing consistency assurance operation can execute. This operation can repetitively prompt a user to speak the bookmark word to insure a minimum similarity threshold exists between spoken instances of the bookmark word which helps to guarantee that future spoken instances of the bookmark word will be properly recognized. Once the tests and/or speech processing actions have been satisfactorily completed, the new speech bookmark can be added to a speech recognition grammar. 
         [0020]    The VUI can confirm that the speech bookmark has been successfully established in step  244 . In step  246 , any necessary changes to a speech-enabled application and/or speech processing system related to the new speech bookmark can be performed. For example, an active grammar for the speech-enabled application can be updated to include the speech bookmark. In step  248 , the user can begin a different interactive session with the speech response system, which can be performed after a delay of any duration. In step  250 , the VUI can play an initial announcement and can request a user to enter a user identifier. A user can input a user identifier in step  252 . In step  254 , the VUI can prompt the user for an authorization code, which the user can provide in step  256 . After a user has been successfully authorized, a main menu prompt can be played along with a set of menu options and user selectors for these options, as shown by step  258 . In step  260 , a user can speak the phrase “My Money”, which can be a previously established speech bookmark. In step  262 , the speech-enabled application can jump to a customer balance dialog for a checking account, which is associated with the “My Money” bookmark. In step  264 , the VUI can audibly present the user with their checking account balance. 
         [0021]    The present invention may be realized in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The present invention may 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 may 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. 
         [0022]    The present invention also may 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 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. 
         [0023]    This invention may be embodied in other forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof. Accordingly, reference should be made to the following claims, rather than to the foregoing specification, as indicating the scope of the invention.