Abstract: Some aspects include transforming data for which at least one constraint has been specified on a portion of the data, the at least one constraint relating to a similarity and/or dissimilarity of at least some of the portion of the data. Techniques comprise determining a first transformation that approximates the at least one constraint using a cosine similarity as a measure of the similarity and/or dissimilarity of the at least a portion of the data, applying at least the first transformation to the data to obtain transformed data, and fitting a plurality of clusters to the transformed data to obtain a plurality of established clusters. Some aspects include classifying input data by transforming the input data using at least the first transformation and comparing the transformed input data to the established clusters.

Abstract: In some aspects, a method of recognizing speech that comprises natural language and at least one word specified in at least one domain-specific vocabulary is provided. The method comprises performing a first speech processing pass comprising identifying, in the speech, a first portion including the natural language and a second portion including the at least one word specified in the at least one domain-specific vocabulary, and recognizing the first portion including the natural language. The method further comprises performing a second speech processing pass comprising recognizing the second portion including the at least one word specified in the at least one domain-specific vocabulary.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for displaying speech command input state information in a multimodal browser including displaying an icon representing a speech command type and displaying an icon representing the input state of the speech command. In typical embodiments, the icon representing a speech command type and the icon representing the input state of the speech command also includes attributes of a single icon. Typical embodiments include accepting from a user a speech command of the speech command type, changing the input state of the speech command, and displaying another icon representing the changed input state of the speech command. Typical embodiments also include displaying the text of the speech command in association with the icon representing the speech command type.

Abstract: Differential dynamic content delivery including providing a session document for a presentation, wherein the session document includes a session grammar and a session structured document; selecting from the session structured document a classified structural element in dependence upon user classifications of a user participant in the presentation; presenting the selected structural element to the user; streaming presentation speech to the user including individual speech from at least one user participating in the presentation; converting the presentation speech to text; detecting whether the presentation speech contains simultaneous individual speech from two or more users; and displaying the text if the presentation speech contains simultaneous individual speech from two or more users.

Abstract: An assignment device (1) assigns word class information (WKI) to one or more words of text information (ETI). Based on word-class sequence information (WK-AI) formed from this assigned word class information (WKI), actions (A) are executed in order to notify the user of conflicts or to provide the user with background information (HI) relating to words in the text information (TT).

Abstract: A natural language understanding system performs automatic unsupervised clustering of dialog data from a natural language dialog application. A log parser automatically extracts structured dialog data from application logs. A dialog generalizing module generalizes the extracted dialog data to generalization identifier vectors. A data clustering module automatically clusters the dialog data based on the generalization identifier vectors using an unsupervised density-based clustering algorithm without a predefined number of clusters and without a predefined distance threshold in an iterative approach based on a hierarchical ordering of the generalization.

Abstract: Device, system, and method of liveness detection using voice biometrics. For example, a method comprises: generating a first matching score based on a comparison between: (a) a voice-print from a first text-dependent audio sample received at an enrollment stage, and (b) a second text-dependent audio sample received at an authentication stage; generating a second matching score based on a text-independent audio sample; and generating a liveness score by taking into account at least the first matching score and the second matching score.

Abstract: Automated user-machine interaction is gaining attraction in many applications and services. However, implementing and offering smart automated user-machine interaction services still present technical challenges. According to at least one example embodiment, a dialogue manager is configured to handle multiple dialogue applications independent of the language, the input modalities, or output modalities used. The dialogue manager employs generic semantic representation of user-input data. At a step of a dialogue, the dialogue manager determines whether the user-input data is indicative of a new request or a refinement request based on the generic semantic representation and at least one of a maintained state of the dialogue, general knowledge data representing one or more concepts, and data representing history of the dialogue. The dialogue manager then responds to determined user-request with multi-facet output data to a client dialogue application indicating action(s) to be performed.

Abstract: A multi-mode voice controlled user interface is described. The user interface is adapted to conduct a speech dialog with one or more possible speakers and includes a broad listening mode which accepts speech inputs from the possible speakers without spatial filtering, and a selective listening mode which limits speech inputs to a specific speaker using spatial filtering. The user interface switches listening modes in response to one or more switching cues.

Abstract: A mass-scale, user-independent, device-independent, voice messaging system that converts unstructured voice messages into text for display on a screen is disclosed. The system comprises (i) computer implemented sub-systems and also (ii) a network connection to human operators providing transcription and quality control; the system being adapted to optimise the effectiveness of the human operators by further comprising 3 core sub-systems, namely (i) a pre-processing front end that determines an appropriate conversion strategy; (ii) one or more conversion resources; and (iii) a quality control sub-system.

Abstract: Techniques for disambiguating at least one text segment from at least one acoustically similar word and/or phrase. The techniques include identifying at least one text segment, in a textual representation having a plurality of text segments, having at least one acoustically similar word and/or phrase which has a different spelling, annotating the textual representation with disambiguating information to help disambiguate the at least one text segment from the at least one acoustically similar word and/or phrase, and synthesizing a speech signal, at least in part, by performing text-to-speech synthesis on at least a portion of the textual representation that includes the at least one text segment, wherein the speech signal includes speech corresponding to the disambiguating information located proximate the portion of the speech signal corresponding to the at least one text segment.

Abstract: Differential dynamic content delivery including providing a session document for a presentation, where the session document includes a session grammar and a session structured document; selecting from the session structured document a classified structural element in dependence upon user classifications of a user participant in the presentation; presenting the selected structural element to the user; streaming speech to the user from one or more users participating in the presentation; converting the speech to text; detecting a total sound level for the user; and determining whether to display the text in dependence upon the total sound level for the user.

Abstract: Systems and techniques disclosed herein include methods for de-quantization of feature vectors used in automatic speech recognition. A SIMD vector processor is used in one embodiment for efficient vectorized lookup of floating point values in conjunction with fMPE processing for increasing the discriminative power of input signals. These techniques exploit parallelism to effectively reduce the latency of speech recognition in a system operating in a high dimensional feature space. In one embodiment, a bytewise integer lookup operation effectively performs a floating point or a multiple byte lookup.

Abstract: Techniques for providing speech output for speech-enabled applications. A synthesis system receives from a speech-enabled application a text input including a text transcription of a desired speech output. The synthesis system selects one or more audio recordings corresponding to one or more portions of the text input. In one aspect, the synthesis system selects from audio recordings provided by a developer of the speech-enabled application. In another aspect, the synthesis system selects an audio recording of a speaker speaking a plurality of words. The synthesis system forms a speech output including the one or more selected audio recordings and provides the speech output for the speech-enabled application.

Abstract: A set of audio phrases and corresponding phrase characteristics can be maintained, such as in a database. The phrase characteristics can include a translation of speech in the associated audio phrase. A finite state grammar that includes a set of textual phrases can be received. A software algorithm can execute to compare the set of textual phrases against the translations associated with the maintained audio phrases. A result of the software algorithm execution can be produced, where the result indicates phrase coverage for the finite state grammar based upon the audio phrases.

Abstract: Designing a natural language understanding (NLU) model for an application from scratch can be difficult for non-experts. A system can simplify the design process by providing an interface allowing a designer to input example usage sentences and build an NLU model based on presented matches to those example sentences. In one embodiment, a method for initializing a workspace for building an NLU system includes parsing a sample sentence to select at least one candidate stub grammar from among multiple candidate stub grammars. The method can include presenting, to a user, respective representations of the candidate stub grammars selected by the parsing of the sample sentence. The method can include enabling the user to choose one of the respective representations of the candidate stub grammars. The method can include adding to the workspace a stub grammar corresponding to the representation of the candidate stub grammar chosen by the user.

Abstract: Speech recognition techniques are employed in a variety of applications and services serving large numbers of users. As such, there is an increasing demand for speech recognition systems with enhanced performance. Specifically, enhanced performance in large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) systems is a market demand. Herein, convolutional neural networks are explored as an alternative speech recognition approach and different CNN architectures are tested. According to at least one example embodiment, a method and corresponding apparatus for performing speech recognition comprise employing a CNN with at least two convolutional layers and at least two fully-connected layers in speech recognition. Using the CNN a textual representation of input audio data may be provided based on output data by the CNN.

Abstract: Selecting a grammar for use in a machine question-answering system, such as a Natural Language Understanding System, can be difficult for non-experts in such grammars. A tool, according to an example embodiment, can compare annotations of sample sentences, performed correctly by a human, the annotations having intents and mentions, against annotations performed by multiple grammars. Each grammar can be scored, and the system can select the best scored grammar for the user. In one embodiment, a method of selecting a grammar includes comparing manually-generated annotations against machine-generated annotations as a function of a given grammar among multiple grammars. The method can further include applying scores to the machine-generated annotations that are a function of weightings of the intents and mentions. The method can additionally include recommending whether to employ the given grammar based on the scores.

Abstract: A system and method for entering USSD codes through an ambiguous text entry interface. The disclosed system may be embedded in mobile devices or other devices having reduced (e.g., 12 key) keypads for text entry. The system receives text entry from users, disambiguates the text entry, and presents the user with descriptors (i.e., representative words, icons, or other visual indicators) that are associated with the entered text and correlated with USSD codes. In response to a user selecting a descriptor, the system retrieves the corresponding USSD code and causes the device to transmit a message to the USSD service. The USSD service receives the message and invokes appropriate processes to respond to the message. In some embodiments, the system presents the list of descriptors representing USSD codes to the user in an order that is related to the probability that the user will select the descriptor.

Abstract: A method of converting a document for a user. The method includes receiving the document in a first format from a first user device through a telecommunications network. The method also includes automatically producing a new version of the document upon receipt of the document. The new version of the document is in a second format, which is selected from a group including a plurality of formats distinct from the first format.