Patent ID: 7346507

Claim:
A method for building a training set of token-response pairings for an automated speech-recognition-based system, comprising the steps of: (a) for each response in a plurality of possible responses, calculating, based on an expected phrase coverage for said each response and a probability of occurrence for said each response, a benefit that would be achieved by adding to the training set a token-response pairing for said each response; (b) identifying a maximum benefit response, said maximum benefit response being equal to the response from the plurality of possible responses having the maximum benefit; (c) adding to the training set, a token-response pairing containing the maximum benefit response; (d) incrementing a current phrase coverage for the training set by an amount equal to the product of the expected phrase coverage for the number of token-response pairings in the training set that contain the maximum benefit response, and the probability of occurrence of the maximum benefit response; and (e) repeating steps (a) to (d) until the current phrase coverage is greater than or equal to a target phrase coverage.