Patents by Inventor Charles W. Cross

Charles W. Cross has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8909532
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for supporting multi-lingual user interaction with a multimodal application, the application including a plurality of VoiceXML dialogs, each dialog characterized by a particular language, supporting multi-lingual user interaction implemented with a plurality of speech engines, each speech engine having a grammar and characterized by a language corresponding to one of the dialogs, with the application operating on a multimodal device supporting multiple modes of interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the application operatively coupled to the speech engines through a VoiceXML interpreter, the VoiceXML interpreter: receiving a voice utterance from a user; determining in parallel, using the speech engines, recognition results for each dialog in dependence upon the voice utterance and the grammar for each speech engine; administering the recognition results for the dialogs; and selecting a language for user interaction in dependence upon
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventor: Charles W. Cross, Jr.
  • Patent number: 8862471
    Abstract: Establishing a multimodal advertising personality for a sponsor of a multimodal application, including associating one or more vocal demeanors with a sponsor of a multimodal application and presenting a speech portion of the multimodal application for the sponsor using at least one of the vocal demeanors associated with the sponsor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2014
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles W. Cross, Jr., Hilary A. Pike
  • Patent number: 8862475
    Abstract: Speech-enabled content navigation and control of a distributed multimodal browser is disclosed, the browser providing an execution environment for a multimodal application, the browser including a graphical user agent (‘GUA’) and a voice user agent (‘VUA’), the GUA operating on a multimodal device, the VUA operating on a voice server, that includes: transmitting, by the GUA, a link message to the VUA, the link message specifying voice commands that control the browser and an event corresponding to each voice command; receiving, by the GUA, a voice utterance from a user, the voice utterance specifying a particular voice command; transmitting, by the GUA, the voice utterance to the VUA for speech recognition by the VUA; receiving, by the GUA, an event message from the VUA, the event message specifying a particular event corresponding to the particular voice command; and controlling, by the GUA, the browser in dependence upon the particular event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2014
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Soonthorn Ativanichayaphong, Charles W. Cross, Jr., Gerald M. McCobb
  • Patent number: 8843376
    Abstract: Speech-enabled web content searching using a multimodal browser implemented with one or more grammars in an automatic speech recognition (‘ASR’) engine, with the multimodal browser operating on a multimodal device supporting multiple modes of interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the multimodal browser operatively coupled to the ASR engine, includes: rendering, by the multimodal browser, web content; searching, by the multimodal browser, the web content for a search phrase, including yielding a matched search result, the search phrase specified by a first voice utterance received from a user and a search grammar; and performing, by the multimodal browser, an action in dependence upon the matched search result, the action specified by a second voice utterance received from the user and an action grammar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2014
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventor: Charles W. Cross, Jr.
  • Publication number: 20140278422
    Abstract: Indexing digitized speech with words represented in the digitized speech, with a multimodal digital audio editor operating on a multimodal device supporting modes of user interaction, the modes of user interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the multimodal digital audio editor operatively coupled to an ASR engine, including providing by the multimodal digital audio editor to the ASR engine digitized speech for recognition; receiving in the multimodal digital audio editor from the ASR engine recognized user speech including a recognized word, also including information indicating where, in the digitized speech, representation of the recognized word begins; and inserting by the multimodal digital audio editor the recognized word, in association with the information indicating where, in the digitized speech, representation of the recognized word begins, into a speech recognition grammar, the speech recognition grammar voice enabling user interface commands of the multimodal digital au
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2014
    Publication date: September 18, 2014
    Applicant: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles W. Cross, Frank L. Jania
  • Publication number: 20140208210
    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.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2014
    Publication date: July 24, 2014
    Applicant: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles W. Cross, JR., Michael C. Hollinger, Igor R. Jablokov, Benjamin D. Lewis, Hilary A. Pike, Daniel M. Smith, David W. Wintermute, Michael A. Zaitzeff
  • Patent number: 8788620
    Abstract: Web service support for a multimodal client processing a multimodal application, the multimodal client providing an execution environment for the application and operating on a multimodal device supporting multiple modes of user interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the application stored on an application server, includes: receiving, by the server, an application request from the client that specifies the application and device characteristics; determining, by a multimodal adapter of the server, modality requirements for the application; selecting, by the adapter, a modality web service in dependence upon the modality requirements and the characteristics for the device; determining, by the adapter, whether the device supports VoIP in dependence upon the characteristics; providing, by the server, the application to the client; and providing, by the adapter to the client in dependence upon whether the device supports VoIP, access to the modality web service for processing the appl
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Soonthorn Ativanichayaphong, Charles W. Cross, Jr., Gerald M. McCobb
  • Patent number: 8768711
    Abstract: A method of voice-enabling an application for command and control and content navigation can include the application dynamically generating a markup language fragment specifying a command and control and content navigation grammar for the application, instantiating an interpreter from a voice library, and providing the markup language fragment to the interpreter. The method also can include the interpreter processing a speech input using the command and control and content navigation grammar specified by the markup language fragment and providing an event to the application indicating an instruction representative of the speech input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Soonthorn Ativanichayaphong, Charles W. Cross, Jr., Brien H. Muschett
  • Patent number: 8744861
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and computer program products are described for invoking tapered prompts in a multimodal application implemented with a multimodal browser and a multimodal application operating on a multimodal device supporting multiple modes of user interaction with the multimodal application, the modes of user interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes. Embodiments include identifying, by a multimodal browser, a prompt element in a multimodal application; identifying, by the multimodal browser, one or more attributes associated with the prompt element; and playing a speech prompt according to the one or more attributes associated with the prompt element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Soonthorn Ativanichayaphong, Charles W. Cross, Jr., Gerald M. McCobb
  • Patent number: 8725513
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for providing expressive user interaction with a multimodal application, the multimodal application operating in a multimodal browser on a multimodal device supporting multiple modes of user interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the multimodal application operatively coupled to a speech engine through a VoiceXML interpreter, including: receiving, by the multimodal browser, user input from a user through a particular mode of user interaction; determining, by the multimodal browser, user output for the user in dependence upon the user input; determining, by the multimodal browser, a style for the user output in dependence upon the user input, the style specifying expressive output characteristics for at least one other mode of user interaction; and rendering, by the multimodal browser, the user output in dependence upon the style.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2014
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles W. Cross, Jr., Ellen M. Eide, Igor R. Jablokov
  • Patent number: 8719034
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2014
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles W. Cross, Jr., Michael Charles Hollinger, Igor R. Jablokov, Benjamin D. Lewis, Hilary A. Pike, Daniel M. Smith, David W. Wintermute, Michael A. Zaitzeff
  • Publication number: 20140122091
    Abstract: Establishing a multimodal personality for a multimodal application, including evaluating, by the multimodal application, attributes of a user's interaction with the multimodal application; selecting, by the multimodal application, a vocal demeanor in dependence upon the values of the attributes of the user's interaction with the multimodal application; and incorporating, by the multimodal application, the vocal demeanor into the multimodal application.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2013
    Publication date: May 1, 2014
    Applicant: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles W. Cross, JR., Hilary A. Pike
  • Patent number: 8713542
    Abstract: Pausing a VoiceXML dialog of a multimodal application, including generating by the multimodal application a pause event; responsive to the pause event, temporarily pausing the dialogue by the VoiceXML interpreter; generating by the multimodal application a resume event; and responsive to the resume event, resuming the dialog. Embodiments are implemented with the multimodal application operating on a multimodal device supporting multiple modes of interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the multimodal application is operatively coupled to a VoiceXML interpreter, and the VoiceXML interpreter is interpreting the VoiceXML dialog to be paused.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2014
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Soonthorn Ativanichayaphong, Charles W. Cross, Jr., David Jaramillo, Gerald M. McCobb
  • Patent number: 8706500
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and computer program products are described for establishing a multimodal personality for a multimodal application that include selecting, by the multimodal application, matching vocal and visual demeanors and incorporating, by the multimodal application, the matching vocal and visual demeanors as a multimodal personality into the multimodal application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles W. Cross, Jr., Hilary A. Pike
  • Patent number: 8706490
    Abstract: Indexing digitized speech with words represented in the digitized speech, with a multimodal digital audio editor operating on a multimodal device supporting modes of user interaction, the modes of user interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the multimodal digital audio editor operatively coupled to an ASR engine, including providing by the multimodal digital audio editor to the ASR engine digitized speech for recognition; receiving in the multimodal digital audio editor from the ASR engine recognized user speech including a recognized word, also including information indicating where, in the digitized speech, representation of the recognized word begins; and inserting by the multimodal digital audio editor the recognized word, in association with the information indicating where, in the digitized speech, representation of the recognized word begins, into a speech recognition grammar, the speech recognition grammar voice enabling user interface commands of the multimodal digital au
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles W. Cross, Frank L. Jania
  • Patent number: 8670987
    Abstract: Automatic speech recognition implemented with a speech recognition grammar of a multimodal application in an ASR engine, the multimodal application operating on a multimodal device supporting multiple modes of user interaction including a voice mode, the multimodal application operatively coupled to the ASR engine, including: matching by the ASR engine at least one static rule of the speech recognition grammar with at least one word of a voice utterance, yielding a matched value, the matched value specified by the grammar to be required for processing of a dynamic rule of the grammar; and dynamically defining at run time the dynamic rule of the grammar as a new static rule in dependence upon the matched value, the dynamic rule comprising a rule that is specified by the grammar as a rule that is not to be processed by the ASR until after the at least one static rule has been matched.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2014
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Vladimir Bergl, Charles W. Cross, Frank Jania
  • Publication number: 20140052449
    Abstract: Establishing a multimodal advertising personality for a sponsor of a multimodal application, including associating one or more vocal demeanors with a sponsor of a multimodal application and presenting a speech portion of the multimodal application for the sponsor using at least one of the vocal demeanors associated with the sponsor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2013
    Publication date: February 20, 2014
    Applicant: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles W. Cross, JR., Hilary A. Pike
  • Publication number: 20140039899
    Abstract: Indexing digitized speech with words represented in the digitized speech, with a multimodal digital audio editor operating on a multimodal device supporting modes of user interaction, the modes of user interaction including a voice mode and one or more non-voice modes, the multimodal digital audio editor operatively coupled to an ASR engine, including providing by the multimodal digital audio editor to the ASR engine digitized speech for recognition; receiving in the multimodal digital audio editor from the ASR engine recognized user speech including a recognized word, also including information indicating where, in the digitized speech, representation of the recognized word begins; and inserting by the multimodal digital audio editor the recognized word, in association with the information indicating where, in the digitized speech, representation of the recognized word begins, into a speech recognition grammar, the speech recognition grammar voice enabling user interface commands of the multimodal digital au
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2013
    Publication date: February 6, 2014
    Applicant: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles W. Cross, JR., Frank L. Jania
  • Patent number: 8638909
    Abstract: Some example embodiments include a method of dynamically publishing directory information for a plurality of interactive voice response (‘IVR’) systems. The method includes receiving, by the IVR directory service on behalf of one of the IVR systems, a web services update request. The method includes determining, by the IVR directory service in response to the web services update request, updated directory information for the IVR system. The method includes updating the IVR system directory with the updated directory information for the IVR system. The method includes generating an updated voice mode user interface to reflect the updated IVR system directory with the updated directory information for the IVR system. The generating includes creating one more voice dialogs in accordance with the directory information, the one or more voice dialogs specifying a call flow defining the interaction between a caller and the IVR directory service.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ciprian Agapi, William K. Bodin, Charles W. Cross, Jr., Fang Wang
  • Publication number: 20130339033
    Abstract: A prompt generation engine operates to dynamically extend prompts of a multimodal application. The prompt generation engine receives a media file having a metadata container. The prompt generation engine operates on a multimodal device that supports a voice mode and a non-voice mode for interacting with the multimodal device. The prompt generation engine retrieves from the metadata container a speech prompt related to content stored in the media file for inclusion in the multimodal application. The prompt generation engine modifies the multimodal application to include the speech prompt.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2013
    Publication date: December 19, 2013
    Applicant: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Ciprian Agapi, William K. Bodin, Charles W. Cross, JR.