Abstract: Call flow information can build ‘intent’ into call flows having a series of intended steps and one or more alternative steps for selected intended steps. Users can advance in the call flow based on any response other than one or more alternative valid responses for the one intended step that lead in the call flow to one or more alternative steps to the one intended step because every action in the call flow motivates the user to follow the predetermined ordering. A user can proceed from a first intended step in the series of intended steps to a second intended step in the series of intended steps based on a user's response or information known or discovered about the user.

Abstract: Call flow information can build ‘intent’ into call flows having a series of intended steps and one or more alternative steps for selected intended steps. Users can advance in the call flow based on any response other than one or more alternative valid responses for the one intended step that lead in the call flow to one or more alternative steps to the one intended step because every action in the call flow motivates the user to follow the predetermined ordering. A user can proceed from a first intended step in the series of intended steps to a second intended step in the series of intended steps based on a user's response or information known or discovered about the user.

Abstract: A method of generating a phonemic transcription for a word using a computer system is described. In one embodiment, an existing pronunciation generation program is applied to generate an initial transcription. The initial transcription can then be evaluated to identify likely bad pronunciations by looking for phonotactically impossible co-occurrences. Additionally, one or more rules can be applied to generate additional phonemic transcriptions. The resulting transcriptions may be used in place of the initial transcription and/or in addition to the initial transcription. Additionally, when multiple transcriptions result, the transcriptions are ordered according to preference and/or likelihood of use.

Abstract: A method of transforming a voice application program designed for US English speakers to a voice application program for UK English speakers using a computer system is described. In one embodiment, scripts and grammars associated with the voice application program are converted from US-to-UK English. The process includes spelling normalization, lexical normalization, and pronunciation conversion (including where appropriate accounting for stress shifts). The result is necessary word pronunciations for speech recognition of UK English speaker (especially for proper nouns) as well as a script that has been conformed to use UK English spelling and lexical conventions. Additionally, the script can be annotated with pronunciations as a part of the process. Further, in one embodiment a web based interface to the conversion process is provided either standalone or as part of a voice application development environment.

Abstract: A method of transforming a voice application program designed for US English speakers to a voice application program for UK English speakers using a computer system is described. In one embodiment, scripts and grammars associated with the voice application program are converted from US-to-UK English. The process includes spelling normalization, lexical normalization, and pronunciation conversion (including where appropriate accounting for stress shifts). The result is necessary word pronunciations for speech recognition of UK English speaker (especially for proper nouns) as well as a script that has been conformed to use UK English spelling and lexical conventions. Additionally, the script can be annotated with pronunciations as a part of the process. Further, in one embodiment a web based interface to the conversion process is provided either standalone or as part of a voice application development environment.

Abstract: The present invention improves upon electronic speech synthesis using pre-recorded segments of speech to fill in for other missing segments of speech. The formalized aliasing approach of the present invention overcomes the ad hoc aliasing approach of the prior art which oftentimes generated less than satisfactory speech synthesis sound output. By formalizing the relationship between missing speech sound samples and available speech sound samples, the present invention provides a structured approach to aliasing which results in improved synthetic speech sound quality. Further, the formalized aliasing approach of the present invention can be used to lessen storage requirements for speech sound samples by only storing as many sound samples as memory capacity can support.

Abstract: The present invention utilizes a novel approach to facial imaging synchronized with synthetic speech. Mapping viseme images to a diphone requires the same `transitioning` in that the imaging associated with a diphone is not a static image, but rather, a series of images which dynamically depict, with lip, teeth and tongue positioning, the sound transition occurring in the relevant diphone. Each series of lip, teeth, and tongue positioning transitions is referred to herein as a `diseme.` A diseme (like a diphone) thus begins somewhere during one viseme (phone) and ends somewhere during a following viseme (phone). Due to lip, teeth and tongue position imaging commonality, phones are grouped into archiphonic families. A single diseme, which depicts the transition from a phone in one archiphonic family to another phone in a different archiphonic family, can be used for displaying the transition between any phone in the first archiphonic family to any phone in the second archiphonic family.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for the automatic application of vocal emotion parameters to text in a text-to-speech system. Predefining vocal parameters for various vocal emotions allows simple selection and application of vocal emotions to text to be output from a text-to-speech system. Further, the present invention is capable of generating vocal emotion with the limited prosodic controls available in a concatenative synthesizer.