Patent ID: 7216351

Claim:
A system for synchronizing multi-modal interactions, comprising: a program storage device that stores a multi-modal application, the multi-modal application comprising at least a first mode process that enables user interaction with the application in a first modality and a second mode process that enables user interaction with the application in a second modality; a program execution system that executes the multi-modal application and synchronizes the first and second mode processes while a user interacts with the multi-modal application, wherein the program execution system comprises: a multi-modal shell that manages information exchanges between the first and second mode processes of the multi-modal application to enable a synchronized multi-modal interaction with the multi-modal application wherein user interaction in one modality results in execution of corresponding commands in both the first and second mode processes; and an API (application program interface) that allows the first and second mode processes to register their respective active commands and corresponding actions with the multi-modal shell.