Patents Assigned to VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
  • Patent number: 8195468
    Abstract: A mobile system is provided that includes speech-based and non-speech-based interfaces for telematics applications. The mobile system identifies and uses context, prior information, domain knowledge, and user specific profile data to achieve a natural environment for users that submit requests and/or commands in multiple domains. The invention creates, stores and uses extensive personal profile information for each user, thereby improving the reliability of determining the context and presenting the expected results for a particular question or command. The invention may organize domain specific behavior and information into agents, that are distributable or updateable over a wide area network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Chris Weider, Richard Kennewick, Mike Kennewick, Philippe Di Cristo, Robert A. Kennewick, Samuel Menaker, Lynn Elise Armstrong
  • Publication number: 20120109753
    Abstract: The system and method described herein may provide advertisements in an integrated voice navigation services environment. In particular, one or more advertisements may be identified based on affinities among a current location associated with a navigation device and shared knowledge and information used to interpret natural language utterances that relate to a navigation context, wherein the one or more advertisements may then be presented via a multi-modal output. As such, the shared knowledge and the information relating to the navigation context may provide the system and method with dynamic awareness relating to context, available information sources, domain knowledge, and user behavior and preferences, among other things, which may be used to deliver targeted and contextually relevant advertisements in the integrated navigation services environment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2011
    Publication date: May 3, 2012
    Applicant: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael R. Kennewick, Catherine Cheung, Larry Baldwin, Ari Salomon, Michael Tjalve, Sheetal Guttigoli, Lynn Armstrong, Philippe Di Cristo, Bernie Zimmerman, Sam Menaker
  • Publication number: 20120101809
    Abstract: The system and method described herein may dynamically generate a recognition grammar associated with a conversational voice user interface in an integrated voice navigation services environment. In particular, in response to receiving a natural language utterance that relates to a navigation context at the voice user interface, a conversational language processor may generate a dynamic recognition grammar that organizes grammar information based on one or more topological domains. For example, the one or more topological domains may be determined based on a current location associated with a navigation device, whereby a speech recognition engine may use the grammar information organized in the dynamic recognition grammar according to the one or more topological domains to generate one or more interpretations associated with the natural language utterance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2011
    Publication date: April 26, 2012
    Applicant: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael R. Kennewick, Catherine Cheung, Larry Baldwin, Ari Salomon, Michael Tjalve, Sheetal Guttigoli, Lynn Armstrong, Philippe Di Cristo, Bernie Zimmerman, Sam Menaker
  • Publication number: 20120101810
    Abstract: A conversational, natural language voice user interface may provide an integrated voice navigation services environment. The voice user interface may enable a user to make natural language requests relating to various navigation services, and further, may interact with the user in a cooperative, conversational dialogue to resolve the requests. Through dynamic awareness of context, available sources of information, domain knowledge, user behavior and preferences, and external systems and devices, among other things, the voice user interface may provide an integrated environment in which the user can speak conversationally, using natural language, to issue queries, commands, or other requests relating to the navigation services provided in the environment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2011
    Publication date: April 26, 2012
    Applicant: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael R. KENNEWICK, Catherine Cheung, Larry Baldwin, Ari Salomon, Michael Tjalve, Sheetal Guttigoli, Lynn Armstrong, Philippe Dichristo, Bernie Zimmerman, Sam Menaker
  • Patent number: 8155962
    Abstract: The methods and systems described herein may asynchronously process natural language utterances to provide real-time response performance and natural interaction with users. In particular, the methods and systems described herein may use various natural language speech recognition and interpretation components to identify a request (e.g., a query or command) in an utterance. The request identified in the utterance may then be processed with one or more domain agents, which may submit duplicate queries to multiple different data sources to process the request. The domain agents may then asynchronously evaluate responses to the duplicate queries to return results to users in a timely and natural manner, and further to account the fact that the different data sources may respond to the queries at different speeds, provide unsatisfactory responses to the queries, or fail to respond to the queries at all.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2012
    Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert A. Kennewick, David Locke, Michael R. Kennewick, Sr., Michael R. Kennewick, Jr., Richard Kennewick, Tom Freeman
  • Patent number: 8150694
    Abstract: The system and method described herein may provide an acoustic grammar to dynamically sharpen speech interpretation. In particular, the acoustic grammar may be used to map one or more phonemes identified in a user verbalization to one or more syllables or words, wherein the acoustic grammar may have one or more linking elements to reduce a search space associated with mapping the phonemes to the syllables or words. As such, the acoustic grammar may be used to generate one or more preliminary interpretations associated with the verbalization, wherein one or more post-processing techniques may then be used to sharpen accuracy associated with the preliminary interpretations. For example, a heuristic model may assign weights to the preliminary interpretations based on context, user profiles, or other knowledge and a probable interpretation may be identified based on confidence scores associated with one or more candidate interpretations generated with the heuristic model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert A. Kennewick, Min Ke, Michael Tjalve, Philippe Di Cristo
  • Patent number: 8145489
    Abstract: A system and method for selecting and presenting advertisements based on natural language processing of voice-based inputs is provided. A user utterance may be received at an input device, and a conversational, natural language processor may identify a request from the utterance. At least one advertisement may be selected and presented to the user based on the identified request. The advertisement may be presented as a natural language response, thereby creating a conversational feel to the presentation of advertisements. The request and the user's subsequent interaction with the advertisement may be tracked to build user statistical profiles, thus enhancing subsequent selection and presentation of advertisements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Tom Freeman, Mike Kennewick
  • Patent number: 8140335
    Abstract: A conversational, natural language voice user interface may provide an integrated voice navigation services environment. The voice user interface may enable a user to make natural language requests relating to various navigation services, and further, may interact with the user in a cooperative, conversational dialogue to resolve the requests. Through dynamic awareness of context, available sources of information, domain knowledge, user behavior and preferences, and external systems and devices, among other things, the voice user interface may provide an integrated environment in which the user can speak conversationally, using natural language, to issue queries, commands, or other requests relating to the navigation services provided in the environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2012
    Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael R. Kennewick, Catherine Cheung, Larry Baldwin, Ari Salomon, Michael Tjalve, Sheetal Guttigoli, Lynn Armstrong, Philippe Di Cristo, Bernie Zimmerman, Sam Menaker
  • Patent number: 8140327
    Abstract: The systems and methods described herein may filter and eliminate noise from natural language utterances to improve accuracy associated with speech recognition and parsing capabilities. In particular, the systems and methods described herein may use a microphone array to provide directional signal capture, noise elimination, and cross-talk reduction associated with an input speech signal. Furthermore, a filter arranged between the microphone array and a speech coder may use band shaping, notch filtering, and adaptive echo cancellation to optimize a signal-to-noise ratio associated with the speech signal. The speech signal may then be sent to the speech coder, which may use adaptive lossy audio compression to optimize bandwidth requirements associated with transmitting the speech signal to a main unit that provides the speech recognition, parsing, and other natural language processing capabilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2012
    Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert A. Kennewick, David Locke, Michael R. Kennewick, Sr., Michael R. Kennewick, Jr., Richard Kennewick, Tom Freeman
  • Patent number: 8112275
    Abstract: The systems and methods described herein may recognize natural language utterances that include queries and/or commands and execute the queries and/or commands based on user-specific profiles. The systems and methods described herein may include a complete speech-based information query, retrieval, presentation and command environment that makes significant use of context, prior information, domain knowledge, and the user-specific profiles to achieve a natural environment for one or more users making queries or commands in multiple domains. Through this integrated approach, a complete speech-based natural language query and response environment can be created and tailored to specific users. For example, the systems and methods described herein may create, store, and use extensive personal profile information for different users, thereby improving the reliability of determining the context and presenting the results that the specific users may expect for a particular question or command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert A. Kennewick, David Locke, Michael R. Kennewick, Sr., Michael R. Kennewick, Jr., Richard Kennewick, Tom Freeman
  • Publication number: 20120022857
    Abstract: A cooperative conversational voice user interface is provided. The cooperative conversational voice user interface may build upon short-term and long-term shared knowledge to generate one or more explicit and/or implicit hypotheses about an intent of a user utterance. The hypotheses may be ranked based on varying degrees of certainty, and an adaptive response may be generated for the user. Responses may be worded based on the degrees of certainty and to frame an appropriate domain for a subsequent utterance. In one implementation, misrecognitions may be tolerated, and conversational course may be corrected based on subsequent utterances and/or responses.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2011
    Publication date: January 26, 2012
    Applicant: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Larry BALDWIN, Tom Freeman, Michael Tjalve, Blane Ebersold, Chris Weider
  • Patent number: 8073681
    Abstract: A cooperative conversational voice user interface is provided. The cooperative conversational voice user interface may build upon short-term and long-term shared knowledge to generate one or more explicit and/or implicit hypotheses about an intent of a user utterance. The hypotheses may be ranked based on varying degrees of certainty, and an adaptive response may be generated for the user. Responses may be worded based on the degrees of certainty and to frame an appropriate domain for a subsequent utterance. In one implementation, misrecognitions may be tolerated, and conversational course may be corrected based on subsequent utterances and/or responses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2011
    Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Larry Baldwin, Tom Freeman, Michael Tjalve, Blane Ebersold, Chris Weider
  • Patent number: 8069046
    Abstract: An enhanced system for speech interpretation is provided. The system may include receiving a user verbalization and generating one or more preliminary interpretations of the verbalization by identifying one or more phonemes in the verbalization. An acoustic grammar may be used to map the phonemes to syllables or words, and the acoustic grammar may include one or more linking elements to reduce a search space associated with the grammar. The preliminary interpretations may be subject to various post-processing techniques to sharpen accuracy of the preliminary interpretation. A heuristic model may assign weights to various parameters based on a context, a user profile, or other domain knowledge. A probable interpretation may be identified based on a confidence score for each of a set of candidate interpretations generated by the heuristic model. The model may be augmented or updated based on various information associated with the interpretation of the verbalization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2011
    Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert A. Kennewick, Min Ke, Michael Tjalve, Philippe Di Cristo
  • Publication number: 20110231188
    Abstract: The system and method described herein may provide an acoustic grammar to dynamically sharpen speech interpretation. In particular, the acoustic grammar may be used to map one or more phonemes identified in a user verbalization to one or more syllables or words, wherein the acoustic grammar may have one or more linking elements to reduce a search space associated with mapping the phonemes to the syllables or words. As such, the acoustic grammar may be used to generate one or more preliminary interpretations associated with the verbalization, wherein one or more post-processing techniques may then be used to sharpen accuracy associated with the preliminary interpretations. For example, a heuristic model may assign weights to the preliminary interpretations based on context, user profiles, or other knowledge and a probable interpretation may be identified based on confidence scores associated with one or more candidate interpretations generated with the heuristic model.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 1, 2011
    Publication date: September 22, 2011
    Applicant: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert A. Kennewick, Min Ke, Michael Tjalve, Philippe Di Cristo
  • Publication number: 20110231182
    Abstract: A mobile system is provided that includes speech-based and non-speech-based interfaces for telematics applications. The mobile system identifies and uses context, prior information, domain knowledge, and user specific profile data to achieve a natural environment for users that submit requests and/or commands in multiple domains. The invention creates, stores and uses extensive personal profile information for each user, thereby improving the reliability of determining the context and presenting the expected results for a particular question or command. The invention may organize domain specific behavior and information into agents, that are distributable or updateable over a wide area network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2011
    Publication date: September 22, 2011
    Applicant: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Chris Weider, Richard Kennewick, Mike Kennewick, Philippe Di Cristo, Robert A. Kennewick, Samuel Menaker, Lynn Elise Armstrong
  • Patent number: 8015006
    Abstract: Systems and methods for receiving natural language queries and/or commands and execute the queries and/or commands. The systems and methods overcomes the deficiencies of prior art speech query and response systems through the application of a complete speech-based information query, retrieval, presentation and command environment. This environment makes significant use of context, prior information, domain knowledge, and user specific profile data to achieve a natural environment for one or more users making queries or commands in multiple domains. Through this integrated approach, a complete speech-based natural language query and response environment can be created. The systems and methods creates, stores and uses extensive personal profile information for each user, thereby improving the reliability of determining the context and presenting the expected results for a particular question or command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2011
    Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert A. Kennewick, David Locke, Michael R. Kennewick, Sr., Michael R. Kennewick, Jr., Richard Kennewick, Tom Freeman
  • Patent number: 7983917
    Abstract: An enhanced system for speech interpretation is provided. The system may include receiving a user verbalization and generating one or more preliminary interpretations of the verbalization by identifying one or more phonemes in the verbalization. An acoustic grammar may be used to map the phonemes to syllables or words, and the acoustic grammar may include one or more linking elements to reduce a search space associated with the grammar. The preliminary interpretations may be subject to various post-processing techniques to sharpen accuracy of the preliminary interpretation. A heuristic model may assign weights to various parameters based on a context, a user profile, or other domain knowledge. A probable interpretation may be identified based on a confidence score for each of a set of candidate interpretations generated by the heuristic model. The model may be augmented or updated based on various information associated with the interpretation of the verbalization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2011
    Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert A. Kennewick, Min Ke, Michael Tjalve, Philippe Di Cristo
  • Publication number: 20110131036
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for receiving speech and/or non-speech communications of natural language questions and/or commands and executing the questions and/or commands. The invention provides a conversational human-machine interface that includes a conversational speech analyzer, a general cognitive model, an environmental model, and a personalized cognitive model to determine context, domain knowledge, and invoke prior information to interpret a spoken utterance or a received non-spoken message. The system and method creates, stores, and uses extensive personal profile information for each user, thereby improving the reliability of determining the context of the speech or non-speech communication and presenting the expected results for a particular question or command.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2011
    Publication date: June 2, 2011
    Applicant: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Philippe DiCristo, Chris Weider, Robert A. Kennewick
  • Publication number: 20110131045
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for receiving speech and non-speech communications of natural language questions and/or commands, transcribing the speech and non-speech communications to textual messages, and executing the questions and/or commands. The invention applies context, prior information, domain knowledge, and user specific profile data to achieve a natural environment for one or more users presenting questions or commands across multiple domains. The systems and methods creates, stores and uses extensive personal profile information for each user, thereby improving the reliability of determining the context of the speech and non-speech communications and presenting the expected results for a particular question or command.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2011
    Publication date: June 2, 2011
    Applicant: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Philippe Di Cristo, Min Ke, Robert A. Kennewick, Lynn Elise Armstrong
  • Patent number: 7949529
    Abstract: A mobile system is provided that includes speech-based and non-speech-based interfaces for telematics applications. The mobile system identifies and uses context, prior information, domain knowledge, and user specific profile data to achieve a natural environment for users that submit requests and/or commands in multiple domains. The invention creates, stores and uses extensive personal profile information for each user, thereby improving the reliability of determining the context and presenting the expected results for a particular question or command. The invention may organize domain specific behavior and information into agents, that are distributable or updateable over a wide area network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2011
    Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Chris Weider, Richard Kennewick, Mike Kennewick, Philippe Di Cristo, Robert A. Kennewick, Samuel Menaker, Lynn Elise Armstrong