Patent ID: 8489398

Claim:
A method performed by a server configured to communicate with a communication device over a network, the method comprising: receiving, from the communication device, speech data for spoken words comprising a proper name; performing speech recognition on the received speech data comprising: recognizing the proper name as comprising one or more components, wherein each component is a word; determining that a component of the one or more components is a word that does not match vocabulary words included in a speech recognition database; identifying, based on determining that the component is a word that does not match any of the vocabulary words included in the speech recognition database, a speech recognition candidate for the received speech data, the speech recognition candidate comprising multiple words that approximate the component, wherein identifying comprises: partitioning the component into portions, wherein an individual portion comprises a word that includes a plurality of letters; determining, for each individual portion, a closest match between the portion and a vocabulary word included in the speech recognition database based on the difference between letters included in the portion and letters included in the vocabulary word; using, for each individual portion and based on determining a closest match between the portion and a vocabulary word included in the speech recognition database, the vocabulary word as one of the multiple words that approximate the component; and outputting, to the communication device, the speech recognition candidate for the received speech data.