Patent Publication Number: US-11665406-B2

Title: Verbal queries relative to video content

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of, and claims priority to, U.S. patent application entitled “VERBAL QUERIES RELATIVE TO VIDEO CONTENT,” filed on Sep. 16, 2015, and assigned application Ser. No. 14/855,995, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     People often want more information about the movies and other video content they are watching. To this end, people may search the Internet to find out more information about the video content. This information may include, for example, biographies of actors, production information, trivia, goofs, and so on. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, with emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views. 
         FIG.  1    is a pictorial diagram of an example scenario of a verbal query and response relative to video content in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  2    is a schematic block diagram of a networked environment according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         FIGS.  3 A and  3 B  show an example of the video content of  FIG.  1    with grids being superimposed thereon by the content access application in the networked environment of  FIG.  2   . 
         FIG.  3 C  shows an example of the video content of  FIG.  1    with indicia being shown relative to each item depicted in the scene by the content access application in the networked environment of  FIG.  2   . 
         FIG.  4    is a flowchart illustrating one example of functionality implemented as portions of a content information application executed in a voice interface device in the networked environment of  FIG.  2    according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  5    is a flowchart illustrating one example of functionality implemented as portions of query response service executed in a computing environment in the networked environment of  FIG.  2    according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         FIG.  6    is a schematic block diagram that provides one example illustration of a computing environment employed in the networked environment of  FIG.  2    according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The present application relates to processing verbal queries by a user for information relative to video content currently being presented to the user. When a user is watching video content, such as a movie or a television program, the user may have a question about who or what is currently being shown. Trying to formulate a search query for entry into a search engine may be inconvenient and a distracting hassle while watching the video content. Moreover, it may be difficult for the user to describe exactly where in the video content something occurs. For example, a user may want to know the identity of a person who briefly appears seventeen minutes into a movie. Although the user may be able to locate a list of cast members who appear in the movie, it may be difficult for the user to determine precisely which cast member was shown at that specific time. 
     Various embodiments of the present disclosure introduce a voice-based interface for determining additional information about what is currently shown in video content. With these embodiments, users can ask questions such as “Who is the man riding on the bicycle?” and then receive the answers on-screen or read back via a speech interface. As will be discussed, with some queries, it may be helpful to employ a screen segmentation approach, where users can refer to a specific region of the screen. For example, users may refer to the upper left, the middle, or the bottom right of the screen, such as “Who is the person at the bottom right?” In some examples, boxes around known objects or a grid overlay may be rendered upon the video content to aid in disambiguation if needed. 
     Turning now to  FIG.  1   , shown is an example scenario  100  in accordance with various embodiments. In the example scenario  100 , video content  103  corresponding to a movie is rendered upon a display for viewing by a user. The video content  103  currently shows two characters, a man on the right and a boy on the left. While watching the video content  103 , the user presents a verbal query  106  in the form of a question: “Who is the man at the right?” In the verbal query  106 , the user requests information about a specific item depicted in the video content  103  (“the man”), and the user identifies the item using a relative frame location (“at the right”). 
     The user speaks the verbal query  106  while watching the video content  103 , and the speech is picked up by a system microphone. As will be described, the system performs natural language processing upon the verbal query  106 , determines information to answer the verbal query  106 , and generates an audio response  109  in reply to the verbal query  106 . In this example, the response  109  indicates, “The man on the right is George, played by Jim Kingsboro.” The response  109  in this case specifies the character name (“George”) and the name of the cast member who plays the character (“Jim Kingsboro”). The response  109  may include other information in other examples, such as birthdate of the cast member, selected awards and/or filmography of the cast member, a description of the character, trivia, and/or other information. In various examples, the system may read out the response  109  using a speech synthesizer, or the system may present the response  109  via the display. In the following discussion, a general description of the system and its components is provided, followed by a discussion of the operation of the same. 
     With reference to  FIG.  2   , shown is a networked environment  200  according to various embodiments. The networked environment  200  includes a computing environment  203 , a display device  206 , and a voice interface device  207  in data communication via a network  209 . The network  209  includes, for example, the Internet, intranets, extranets, wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wired networks, wireless networks, or other suitable networks, etc., cable networks, satellite networks, or any combination of two or more such networks. 
     The computing environment  203  may comprise, for example, a server computer or any other system providing computing capability. Alternatively, the computing environment  203  may employ a plurality of computing devices that may be employed that are arranged, for example, in one or more server banks, computer banks, or other arrangements. Such computing devices may be located in a single installation or may be distributed among many different geographical locations. For example, the computing environment  203  may include a plurality of computing devices that together may comprise a hosted computing resource, a grid computing resource, and/or any other distributed computing arrangement. In some cases, the computing environment  203  may correspond to an elastic computing resource where the allotted capacity of processing, network, storage, or other computing-related resources may vary over time. 
     Various applications and/or other functionality may be executed in the computing environment  203  according to various embodiments. Also, various data is stored in a data store  212  that is accessible to the computing environment  203 . The data store  212  may be representative of a plurality of data stores  212  as can be appreciated. The data stored in the data store  212 , for example, is associated with the operation of the various applications and/or functional entities described below. 
     The components executed on the computing environment  203 , for example, include a content delivery service  215 , a query response service  218 , and other applications, services, processes, systems, engines, or functionality not discussed in detail herein. The content delivery service  215  is executed to serve up or stream video content  103  ( FIG.  1   ) to display devices  206 . The content delivery service  215  may support a resume functionality such that playback of video content  103  may be stopped at a point in the video content  103  on one device and later resumed at that point on the same device or a different device. 
     The query response service  218  is executed to receive data encoding a verbal query  106  ( FIG.  1   ) from a voice interface device  207 , process the verbal query  106 , and then generate a response  109  ( FIG.  1   ) as an answer to the verbal query  106 . As will be discussed, the query response service  218  may return a response  109  for presentation by the voice interface device  207 . Alternatively, the query response service  218  may cause the response  109  to be presented via the display device  206 , for example, as a graphical overlay on top of the video content  103 . The query response service  218  may also cause a graphical overlay on top of the video content  103  to be presented for purposes of disambiguation, for example, to allow a user to verbally select one or more items for an information query when an initial verbal query  106  is unclear. 
     The data stored in the data store  212  includes, for example, a content library  227 , an extrinsic data library  230 , performer data  233 , user account data  236 , time metadata  237 , and potentially other data. The content library  227  may include video content  103  such as movies, television shows, video clips, and/or other forms of video content  103 . The video content  103  in the content library  227  may include accompanying audio, closed captioning text, and/or other data. It is noted that the content library  227  may be absent in some embodiments as the computing environment  203  may merely respond to verbal queries  106  with responses  109  and not actually present the content. 
     The extrinsic data library  230  includes various extrinsic data items that are associated with the video content  103 . Non-limiting examples of the extrinsic data items may include names or descriptions of performers in the video content  103 , biographies or filmographies of the performers, commentary, trivia, mistakes, user comments, images, and/or other data. The extrinsic data items may include curated data that is professionally managed, verified, or is otherwise trustworthy. 
     For example, the extrinsic data library  230  may include cast and crew data  242 , scene data  245 , trivia data  248 , soundtrack data  251 , product data  254 , and/or other data. The cast and crew data  242  include the name, character information, images, and other data describing cast members who perform in video content  103  or crew members who are involved in the production of the video content  103 . The images may correspond to generic images not taken from the video content  103  and/or character images captured from or defined as a portion of a frame of the video content  103 . 
     The scene data  245  divides video content  103  into multiple scenes. A scene corresponds to a period of time in the video content  103  having multiple frames, and may be determined as having a distinct plot element or setting. The scene data  245  may identify the cast members or characters who perform in a given scene. In some cases, the scene data  245  may record the times when the cast members or characters first appear in the scene, last appear in the scene, or are on-screen. In some embodiments, the times may be represented as a frame number, or a range of frame numbers, in the video content  103 . The scene data  245  may also include positional or location information as to where cast members and/or products appear within a frame on screen. The trivia data  248  may include various trivia items, goofs, and other interesting tidbits of information for the video content  103  and may be correlated with times in the video content  103  and/or scenes in the video content  103 . In addition to trivia data  248 , the extrinsic data library  230  may include data relating to quotations, user-generated comments, and so on, which may be correlated to particular times or scenes within the video content  103 . 
     The soundtrack data  251  may include various information about the audio of the video content  103 . For example, the soundtrack data  251  may identify that a particular audio track is being used at a certain time in the video content  103  or during a certain scene of the video content  103 . The soundtrack data  251  may indicate whether the audio corresponds to a title or theme track. In addition, the soundtrack data  251  may identify performers who vocally perform as characters in the audio. Such performers may be considered cast members. However, such performers may differ from cast members who visually perform the same characters in some cases, for example, when a song is recorded by a vocalist and a different performer merely lip-syncs to the recorded song in the video of the video content  103 . 
     The product data  254  may identify associations of products with times or scenes in video content  103 . The products may correspond to any item offered for purchase, download, rental, or other form of consumption. For example, a particular brand of potato chips may be shown and/or mentioned in dialogue of a movie. The product data  254  may be used to promote products that are related to various scenes in the video content  103  at the appropriate times. Such promotions may be rendered relative to a position of the product within a frame of the video content  103 . Such products may also include books, electronic books, soundtrack albums, etc. that are related to the video content  103 . For example, the video content  103  may be an adaptation of a book, or the album might be for the soundtrack of the video content  103 . 
     The performer data  233  may include information about performers in video content  103 . Such performers may be on-screen performers, vocalists, and/or other performers. In some cases, the performer data  233  may include other participants in the video content  103  such as, for example, crew members and others. The performer data  233  may include biographical data  257 , generic images  260 , related content  263 , and so on. The biographical data  257  may include various information such as stage name, birth name, date of birth, date of death, an editorially curated biography, and/or other information. Such data may be taken from editorially curated sources and/or non-editorially curated sources (e.g., “Wiki” sources). 
     The generic images  260  correspond to images of the performer which are taken when the performer is not performing a particular character. For example, such an image might be taken at an awards ceremony, at a press conference, at an informal setting, and/or elsewhere. Such an image may be a headshot or other image. Multiple generic images  260  may be provided for a particular performer. For example, a performer may have a lengthy career, and generic images  260  may be included for various times within the career. The related content  263  describes video content  103  in which the performer appears, directs, produces, or with which the performer is otherwise connected. 
     The user account data  236  includes various data about users of the content delivery service  215 . The user account data  236  may include content lists  266 , acquired content  269 , history  272 , configuration settings  275 , and/or other data. The content lists  266  may correspond to watch lists, wish lists, shopping lists, “favorites” lists, favorite or bookmarked scenes within video content  103 , and/or other user-managed lists of video content  103 . The acquired content  269  describes to which content in the content library  227  a user has access. For example, a user may have rented or purchased particular video content  103 . In some cases, a user may have a subscription that provides access to all or some of the video content  103 . Such a subscription may be limited in some way (e.g., number of titles, number of bytes, quality level, time of day, etc.) or unlimited. 
     The history  272  may include various data describing behavior of a user. Such data may include a purchase history, a browsing history, a viewing history, explicitly configured viewing preferences, and/or other data. As understood herein, a “user” may refer to one or more people capable of using a given user account. For example, a user may include one or more family members, roommates, etc. In various embodiments, the extrinsic data may be presented based at least in part on general history of a user account, history of a user account that is attributable to a specific person, and/or history of one or more related user accounts. 
     The configuration settings  275  may include various parameters that control the operation of the query response service  218  and the voice interface device  207 . For example, the configuration settings  275  may encompass profiles of a user&#39;s voice, dialect, etc. to aid in recognition of the user&#39;s speech. Preferences such as whether to present information on screen or via the voice interface device  207  may also be stored. 
     The time metadata  237  is used to correlate specific points in time in respective video content  103  with items in the extrinsic data library  230  and/or the performer data  233 . For example, a given frame in video content  103  may be associated with various items, comprising people, objects, locations, etc., that are depicted, discussed, heard, or otherwise associated with the video content  103 . The items may be associated with corresponding relative frame locations. 
     The display device  206  and the voice interface device  207  are representative of a plurality of client devices that may be coupled to the network  209 . Each of the display device  206  and the voice interface device  207  may comprise, for example, a processor-based system such as a computer system. Such a computer system may be embodied in the form of a smart television, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, smartphones, set-top boxes, music players, web pads, tablet computer systems, game consoles, electronic book readers, or other devices. The display device  206  is employed to render video content  103  for presentation to users, while the voice interface device  207  may be employed to receive voice commands from users and respond through a synthesized speech interface. Although described as separate devices, the display device  206  and the voice interface device  207  may correspond to a single client device performing both sets of functions in one embodiment. 
     The display device  206  may include one or more displays  278 . Each display  278  may comprise, for example, one or more devices such as liquid crystal display (LCD) displays, gas plasma-based flat panel displays, organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, LCD projectors, or other types of display devices, etc. In some embodiments, the display  278  may correspond to a touchscreen display. The display device  206  may be configured to execute various applications such as a content access application  284  and/or other applications. 
     The content access application  284  may be executed in a display device  206 , for example, to access network content served up by the computing environment  203  and/or other servers, thereby rendering a user interface on the display  278 . The content access application  284  in particular is executed to obtain video content  103  from the content delivery service  215  and to render the video content  103  on the display  278 . Additionally, the content access application  284  may be configured to obtain extrinsic data from the content delivery service  215  and to render a user interface based at least in part on the extrinsic data to enhance the user experience in viewing the video content  103 . In one embodiment, the content access application  284  may be a plug-in of a browser or otherwise executed in the environment of a browser. The display device  206  may be configured to execute other applications such as, for example, mobile applications, email applications, social networking applications, etc. 
     The voice interface device  207  may include one or more microphones  285  and one or more audio devices  286 . The microphones  285  may be optimized to pick up verbal commands from users in the same room as the voice interface device  207 . In receiving and processing audio from the microphones  285 , the voice interface device  207  may be configured to null and ignore audio from video content  103  that is being presented by the display device  206 . Thus, the voice interface device  207  is capable of discerning verbal commands from users even while audio corresponding to video content  103  is simultaneously picked up by the microphones  285 . The audio device  286  is configured to generate audio to be heard by a user. For instance, the audio device  205  may include an integrated speaker, a line-out interface, a headphone or earphone interface, a BLUETOOTH interface, etc. The display device  206  may be configured to execute various applications such as a content information application  287 , a speech synthesizer  288 , and/or other applications. 
     The speech synthesizer  288  may be executed to generate audio corresponding to synthesized speech for textual inputs. The speech synthesizer  288  may support a variety of voices and languages. The content information application  287  is executed to receive verbal queries  106  from users via the microphone  285  and to present responses  109  via the speech synthesizer  288  and the audio device  286 . The voice interface device  207  may be configured to execute other applications such as, for example, mobile applications, email applications, social networking applications, etc. 
     In some embodiments, the voice interface device  207  functions merely to stream audio from the microphone  285  to the query response service  218  and to play audio from the query response service  218  via the audio device  286 . In these embodiments, the speech synthesizer  288  may be executed server side in the computing environment  203  to generate an audio stream. 
     Next, a general description of the operation of the various components of the networked environment  200  is provided. To begin, a user may acquire rights to view video content  103  in a content library  227 . A display device  206  associated with a user may request to stream or download video content  103  from the content delivery service  215 . The video content  103  is sent to the display device  206  over the network  209 . In an alternative embodiment, the video content  103  is available to the display device  206  on a computer-readable medium or via cable, satellite, or terrestrial broadcasting. The content access application  284  of the display device  206  renders the video content  103  on the display  278 . 
     While the video content  103  is being rendered, the user may employ the voice interface device  207  to ask questions about the video content  103  relative to the portion of the video content  103  that is being rendered. The content information application  287  may be listening via the microphone  285  and may respond after hearing a specific wake word. Users may ask for a variety of information related to the current portion of the video content  103 , such as for information about items currently shown on screen, information about what actions the on-screen items are involved with, information about the music currently playing in the video content, and so on. Users may also initiate purchases of items currently shown on screen or add the items to wish lists, watch lists, shopping carts, and so on. 
     Upon receiving the verbal query  106 , the content information application  287  transmits the verbal query  106  to the query response service  218  via the network  209 . The content information application  287  may perform some initial processing on the verbal query  106 , such as converting the audio received from the microphone  285  either to text or profile representations. 
     The query response service  218  performs natural language processing on the verbal query  106  to determine the items that are inquired about and the nature of the inquiry, e.g., who, what, when, where, why, how, etc. The query response service  218  can then determine with respect to the time metadata  237  the items that are currently shown in the video content  103 , within a predetermined threshold before or after the verbal query  106 . Upon knowing the items, the query response service  218  can then formulate a response  109  in answer to the verbal query  106  based at least in part on data in the extrinsic data library  230 , performer data  233 , or other data. 
     The query response service  218  can provide the response  109  for presentation to the user via the content access application  284  or via the content information application  287 . For example, graphical elements may be rendered by the content access application  284  to present the response  109  while the video content  103  is being rendered. Otherwise, the voice interface device  207  may read out the response  109  via the speech synthesizer  288  and the audio device  286 . 
     Referring next to  FIG.  3 A , shown is an example of the video content  103  of  FIG.  1    with a grid  303  being superimposed thereon by the content access application  284  ( FIG.  2   ). In some cases, a verbal query  106  may refer to a relative frame location that is unclear or ambiguous. In response, the grid  303  of a plurality of cells may be shown to facilitate easier specification of a relative frame location. In this example, the grid  303  divides the frame into four quadrants. A user may refer to a specific relative frame location in this grid  303  as “upper left,” “upper right,” “bottom left,” or “bottom right,” or through some other nomenclature. In another example, each cell may be rendered with a specific number or other indicia to ease identification in a verbal query  106 . In various embodiments, the grid  303  may be shown automatically in the case of an unclear relative frame location, or the grid  303  may be shown in response to a user command (e.g., “show grid”). 
     Moving on to  FIG.  3 B , shown is another example of the video content  103  of  FIG.  1    with a different grid  303  being superimposed thereon by the content access application  284  ( FIG.  2   ). It is noted that a variety of grids  303  may be used in various embodiments. Such grids  303  may divide the frame into halves, thirds, or some other equal or non-equal division. In some cases, cells within a grid  303  may overlap other cells. For example, a center cell may slightly overlap cells to the top, bottom, or side. As shown in  FIG.  3 B , the grid  303  may divide the frame into unequal portions. Further, as shown in  FIG.  3 B , the faces of some characters and some objects may be divided into multiple cells, and cells may include multiple faces and objects. Thus, a different grid  303  or a grid  303  having smaller cells may be employed to resolve an ambiguity if necessary. 
     Turning now to  FIG.  3 C , shown is an example of the video content  103  of  FIG.  1    with indicia  306  being shown relative to each item depicted in the scene. The indicia  306  may be rendered in response to an ambiguity in the verbal query  106  or in response to a user command (e.g., “show detected items”). The items may be detected in real-time in the case of a live feed (e.g., using face detection, object detection, etc.), or the items may be previously associated with the video content  103  in the time metadata  237  ( FIG.  2   ). In this non-limiting example, the indicia  306  are rendered as bounding boxes, but in other examples, the indicia  306  may be highlighting, shading, circles, and so on. Associated with each indicia  306  may be an identifier that a user may refer to in a verbal query  106 . For example, in this case, a user may ask, “What is the object at box three?” and an answer will be provided. 
     Referring next to  FIG.  4   , shown is a flowchart that provides one example of the operation of a portion of the content information application  287  according to various embodiments. It is understood that the flowchart of  FIG.  4    provides merely an example of the many different types of functional arrangements that may be employed to implement the operation of the portion of the content information application  287  as described herein. As an alternative, the flowchart of  FIG.  4    may be viewed as depicting an example of elements of a method implemented in the voice interface device  207  ( FIG.  2   ) according to one or more embodiments. 
     Beginning with box  403 , the content information application  287  detects a wake word, phrase, or sound from a user through a microphone  285  ( FIG.  2   ). For example, users may say “Wake up!” and/or clap their hands together twice, which would be preconfigured respectively as a wake phrase or sound. In some embodiments, the content information application  287  is always listening and a wake word, phrase, or sound is not required. In various scenarios, the content information application  287  may be activated via a button press on a remote control, or via a user action relative to a graphical user interface of an application of a mobile device. 
     In box  406 , the content information application  287  receives a verbal query  106  ( FIG.  1   ) from a user via the microphone  285 . A silent pause may signal the end of the verbal query  106 . In box  409 , the content information application  287  encodes the verbal query  106  into text or a data profile. In some cases, the encoding may be user-specific and may depend on the user&#39;s dialect, manner of speaking, and language. Machine language approaches may be used to improve the accuracy of this encoding over time with respect to users indicating satisfaction with the query or asking different queries. 
     In box  412 , the content information application  287  sends data encoding the verbal query  106  to the query response service  218  ( FIG.  2   ). In box  415 , the content information application  287  receives a response  109  ( FIG.  1   ) as an answer to the verbal query  106  from the query response service  218 . 
     In box  418 , the content information application  287  presents the response  109  via the audio device  286  ( FIG.  2   ) and the speech synthesizer  288  ( FIG.  2   ). In some cases, the response  109  may be a follow-up question in order to prompt the user to provide additional information (e.g., disambiguation information) in order for the verbal query  106  to be properly answered. As an example, a grid  303  as in  FIG.  3 A  or indicia  306  as in  FIG.  3 C  may be rendered, and a user may be prompted to provide a verbal confirmation identifying one or more of the cells or indicia  306 . As another example, if a user asks, “Who is the person at the right?” the query response service  218  may cause a follow-up question of “Do you mean the person with the red shirt or the person with the blue shirt?” to be presented to the user. This follow-up question may be presented verbally via the voice interface device  207  or visually via the content access application  284 . The user may provide a verbal response of “The person with the blue shirt,” which may be used to disambiguate the earlier verbal query  106  and to identify the particular item. Thereafter, the operation of the portion of the content information application  287  ends. 
     Continuing to  FIG.  5   , shown is a flowchart that provides one example of the operation of a portion of the query response service  218  according to various embodiments. It is understood that the flowchart of  FIG.  5    provides merely an example of the many different types of functional arrangements that may be employed to implement the operation of the portion of the query response service  218  as described herein. As an alternative, the flowchart of  FIG.  5    may be viewed as depicting an example of elements of a method implemented in the computing environment  203  ( FIG.  2   ) according to one or more embodiments. 
     Beginning with box  503 , the query response service  218  receives a verbal query  106  ( FIG.  2   ) from a voice interface device  207  ( FIG.  2   ). In box  506 , the query response service  218  performs natural language processing on the verbal query  106  to extract the subject of the query, the nature of the query, etc. For example, the query response service  218  may identify a relative frame location (e.g., “at the upper right”) from the verbal query  106  in box  509 . In box  512 , the query response service  218  determines a user account associated with the verbal query  106 . 
     In box  515 , the query response service  218  determines a portion of video content  103  ( FIG.  1   ) that is associated with the user account. For example, the query response service  218  may determine that a certain movie title is being streamed by the content delivery service  215  ( FIG.  2   ) to a content access application  284  ( FIG.  2   ) associated with the user account. Alternatively, the voice interface device  207  may record sounds that can be correlated via signatures/profiles with specific times in video content  103 . The query response service  218  may determine a current time in that presentation and determine the portion of the video content  103  as a certain window before and/or after that time. 
     In box  518 , the query response service  218  identifies one or more items depicted or discussed in the portion of the video content  103  at the relative frame location. For example, the time metadata  237  ( FIG.  2   ) may point to specific items at specific relative frame locations for each time or frame in the video content  103 . In box  521 , the query response service  218  determines information about the identified item(s) in an answer to the verbal query  106 . 
     In box  524 , the query response service  218  causes the information to be presented to the user. Where the verbal query  106  asks for information about a person or cast member appearing in the video content  103 , the information may include a cast member name or a character name of the cast member. In some cases, where the verbal query  106  specifies an item, the information may identify the action performed by the item. 
     The query response service  218  may return a textual response  109  to the voice interface device  207  to be read out to the user via the speech synthesizer  288  ( FIG.  2   ) and the audio device  286  ( FIG.  2   ). Alternatively, the query response service  218  may instruct the content delivery service  215  to cause a graphical element to be inserted by the content access application  284  ( FIG.  2   ), where the graphical element is an overlay that presents the information on top of the video content  103 . In some cases, the verbal query  106  may refer to placing an order for an item, potentially an item for which information was previously provided. In such cases, the query response service  218  may initiate the order of the item on behalf of the associated user account. Thereafter, the operation of the portion of the query response service  218  ends. 
     With reference to  FIG.  6   , shown is a schematic block diagram of the computing environment  203  according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The computing environment  203  includes one or more computing devices  600 . Each computing device  600  includes at least one processor circuit, for example, having a processor  603  and a memory  606 , both of which are coupled to a local interface  609 . To this end, each computing device  600  may comprise, for example, at least one server computer or like device. The local interface  609  may comprise, for example, a data bus with an accompanying address/control bus or other bus structure as can be appreciated. 
     Stored in the memory  606  are both data and several components that are executable by the processor  603 . In particular, stored in the memory  606  and executable by the processor  603  are the content delivery service  215 , the query response service  218 , and potentially other applications. Also stored in the memory  606  may be a data store  212  and other data. In addition, an operating system may be stored in the memory  606  and executable by the processor  603 . 
     It is understood that there may be other applications that are stored in the memory  606  and are executable by the processor  603  as can be appreciated. Where any component discussed herein is implemented in the form of software, any one of a number of programming languages may be employed such as, for example, C, C++, C#, Objective C, Java®, JavaScript®, Perl, PHP, Visual Basic®, Python®, Ruby, Flash®, or other programming languages. 
     A number of software components are stored in the memory  606  and are executable by the processor  603 . In this respect, the term “executable” means a program file that is in a form that can ultimately be run by the processor  603 . Examples of executable programs may be, for example, a compiled program that can be translated into machine code in a format that can be loaded into a random access portion of the memory  606  and run by the processor  603 , source code that may be expressed in proper format such as object code that is capable of being loaded into a random access portion of the memory  606  and executed by the processor  603 , or source code that may be interpreted by another executable program to generate instructions in a random access portion of the memory  606  to be executed by the processor  603 , etc. An executable program may be stored in any portion or component of the memory  606  including, for example, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard drive, solid-state drive, USB flash drive, memory card, optical disc such as compact disc (CD) or digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, magnetic tape, or other memory components. 
     The memory  606  is defined herein as including both volatile and nonvolatile memory and data storage components. Volatile components are those that do not retain data values upon loss of power. Nonvolatile components are those that retain data upon a loss of power. Thus, the memory  606  may comprise, for example, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard disk drives, solid-state drives, USB flash drives, memory cards accessed via a memory card reader, floppy disks accessed via an associated floppy disk drive, optical discs accessed via an optical disc drive, magnetic tapes accessed via an appropriate tape drive, and/or other memory components, or a combination of any two or more of these memory components. In addition, the RAM may comprise, for example, static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or magnetic random access memory (MRAM) and other such devices. The ROM may comprise, for example, a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or other like memory device. 
     Also, the processor  603  may represent multiple processors  603  and/or multiple processor cores and the memory  606  may represent multiple memories  606  that operate in parallel processing circuits, respectively. In such a case, the local interface  609  may be an appropriate network that facilitates communication between any two of the multiple processors  603 , between any processor  603  and any of the memories  606 , or between any two of the memories  606 , etc. The local interface  609  may comprise additional systems designed to coordinate this communication, including, for example, performing load balancing. The processor  603  may be of electrical or of some other available construction. 
     Although the content delivery service  215 , the query response service  218 , the content access application  284  ( FIG.  2   ), the content information application  287  ( FIG.  2   ), the speech synthesizer  288  ( FIG.  2   ), and other various systems described herein may be embodied in software or code executed by general purpose hardware as discussed above, as an alternative the same may also be embodied in dedicated hardware or a combination of software/general purpose hardware and dedicated hardware. If embodied in dedicated hardware, each can be implemented as a circuit or state machine that employs any one of or a combination of a number of technologies. These technologies may include, but are not limited to, discrete logic circuits having logic gates for implementing various logic functions upon an application of one or more data signals, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) having appropriate logic gates, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other components, etc. Such technologies are generally well known by those skilled in the art and, consequently, are not described in detail herein. 
     The flowcharts of  FIGS.  4  and  5    show the functionality and operation of an implementation of portions of the content information application  287  and the query response service  218 . If embodied in software, each block may represent a module, segment, or portion of code that comprises program instructions to implement the specified logical function(s). The program instructions may be embodied in the form of source code that comprises human-readable statements written in a programming language or machine code that comprises numerical instructions recognizable by a suitable execution system such as a processor  603  in a computer system or other system. The machine code may be converted from the source code, etc. If embodied in hardware, each block may represent a circuit or a number of interconnected circuits to implement the specified logical function(s). 
     Although the flowcharts of  FIGS.  4  and  5    show a specific order of execution, it is understood that the order of execution may differ from that which is depicted. For example, the order of execution of two or more blocks may be scrambled relative to the order shown. Also, two or more blocks shown in succession in  FIGS.  4  and  5    may be executed concurrently or with partial concurrence. Further, in some embodiments, one or more of the blocks shown in  FIGS.  4  and  5    may be skipped or omitted. In addition, any number of counters, state variables, warning semaphores, or messages might be added to the logical flow described herein, for purposes of enhanced utility, accounting, performance measurement, or providing troubleshooting aids, etc. It is understood that all such variations are within the scope of the present disclosure. 
     Also, any logic or application described herein, including the content delivery service  215 , the query response service  218 , the content access application  284 , the content information application  287 , and the speech synthesizer  288 , that comprises software or code can be embodied in any non-transitory computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system such as, for example, a processor  603  in a computer system or other system. In this sense, the logic may comprise, for example, statements including instructions and declarations that can be fetched from the computer-readable medium and executed by the instruction execution system. In the context of the present disclosure, a “computer-readable medium” can be any medium that can contain, store, or maintain the logic or application described herein for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system. 
     The computer-readable medium can comprise any one of many physical media such as, for example, magnetic, optical, or semiconductor media. More specific examples of a suitable computer-readable medium would include, but are not limited to, magnetic tapes, magnetic floppy diskettes, magnetic hard drives, memory cards, solid-state drives, USB flash drives, or optical discs. Also, the computer-readable medium may be a random access memory (RAM) including, for example, static random access memory (SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or magnetic random access memory (MRAM). In addition, the computer-readable medium may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or other type of memory device. 
     Further, any logic or application described herein, including the content delivery service  215 , the query response service  218 , the content access application  284 , the content information application  287 , and the speech synthesizer  288 , may be implemented and structured in a variety of ways. For example, one or more applications described may be implemented as modules or components of a single application. Further, one or more applications described herein may be executed in shared or separate computing devices or a combination thereof. For example, a plurality of the applications described herein may execute in the same computing device  600 , or in multiple computing devices  600  in the same computing environment  203 . Additionally, it is understood that terms such as “application,” “service,” “system,” “engine,” “module,” and so on may be interchangeable and are not intended to be limiting. 
     Disjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, or Z,” unless specifically stated otherwise, is otherwise understood with the context as used in general to present that an item, term, etc., may be either X, Y, or Z, or any combination thereof (e.g., X, Y, and/or Z). Thus, such disjunctive language is not generally intended to, and should not, imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at least one of Y, or at least one of Z to each be present. 
     It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are merely possible examples of implementations set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiment(s) without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the disclosure. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.