Patent Document ID: 10102852
Application ID: 14686670
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer-implemented method for generating synthesized, spoken acknowledgments of voice queries using personalized pronunciations, the method comprising: receiving, by a front end component of a voice query processing system that includes (a) the front end component, (b) an automated speech recognizer that is configured to transcribe given audio inputs to terms, (c) a pronunciation generator that is separate from the automated speech recognizer and that is configured to generate sequences of phones that correspond to given audio inputs without mapping the sequences of phones to terms, (d) a text-to speech component, and (e) a voice action engine, audio data encoding a voice query from a user; providing, by the front end component of the voice query processing system, the audio data to both (i) the pronunciation generator that is separate from the automated speech recognizer and that is configured to generate, while the automated speech recognizer begins transcribing the audio data into terms, sequences of phones that correspond to given audio inputs without mapping the sequences of phone to terms, and (ii) the automated speech recognizer that is configured to transcribe given audio inputs to terms; obtaining, from the pronunciation generator that is separate from the automated speech recognizer and based on the pronunciation generator processing the audio data before the automated speech recognizer has completed transcribing the audio data, a sequence of phones that reflects the user's pronunciation of a particular term of the voice query; after obtaining the sequence of phones that reflects the user's pronunciation of the particular term of the voice query from the pronunciation generator, obtaining, from the automated speech recognizer, a transcription of the voice query from the audio data, wherein the transcription includes the particular term; after (i) obtaining the sequence of phones that reflects the user's pronunciation of the particular term of the voice query from the pronunciation generator and (ii) obtaining, from the automated speech recognizer, the transcription of the voice query from the audio data, determining that a spoken acknowledgment that is to be generated for the voice query should use the user's pronunciation for the particular term; generating, by the text-to-speech component of the voice query processing system, the spoken acknowledgment of the voice query, wherein, when output, the particular term is spoken in accordance with the user's pronunciation for the particular term based at least on the sequence of phones that was generated from the audio data by the pronunciation generator; providing, by the text-to-speech component of the voice query processing system, the spoken acknowledgment for output; and after providing the spoken acknowledgement for output, providing the voice query for execution by the voice action engine.