Abstract: A method of sending a voice message via a mobile communication device, said method involving: receiving an utterance from a user of the mobile communication device; generating a non-text representation of the received utterance; inserting the non-text representation into a body of a text message; and sending the text message over a wireless messaging channel from the mobile communication device to a recipient's device.

Abstract: A method implemented on a mobile device that includes speech recognition functionality involves: receiving an utterance that includes a search request from a user of the device; recognizing that the utterance includes a search request; sending a representation of the search request to a remote server over a wireless data connection; receiving information over the wireless data connection that is responsive to the search request; presenting the information on the mobile device; receiving an input from the user selecting an item present in the received information, the item identifying a remote resource; using the selected item to connect to the remote resource, the connection to the remote resource not involving the remote server; and sending to the remote server an indication that a connection was made to the resource identified by the selected item. The method further involves storing a log of the user's connection to remote resources and sending the log to the server.

Abstract: Methods and systems for providing voice-mediated search capability to a mobile communications device involve receiving a signal from the mobile device that includes a representation of a spoken search request from a user of the mobile device, using speech recognition software to convert the search request into a text search request, extracting side information contained implicitly within the received signal, using the extracted side information to assign the user to a category, sending the text search request and the user category to content providers, receiving from the content providers content that is responsive to the text search request and the user category, and sending to the mobile device search results that are based on content from content providers. The methods and systems further involve sending searches and user categories to advertising providers, and sending advertisements returned by the advertising providers to the mobile device along with the search results.

Abstract: A method implemented on a mobile device that includes speech recognition functionality involves presenting to a user of the mobile device a voice-control interface that supports two types of commands at a common level of the interface, the two types of commands including a first type and a second type, the first type being command and control commands and the second type being search request commands. The method further involves: receiving an utterance from the user that corresponds to a command of either of the first type or the second type; recognizing the utterance; if the received utterance is a command of the first type, performing a corresponding command and control function; and if the received utterance is a command of the second type, generating a representation of a corresponding search request and then using the representation to request a search that is responsive to the search request.

Abstract: A method implemented on a mobile device that includes speech recognition functionality involves: receiving an utterance from a user of the mobile device, the utterance including a spoken search request; recognizing that the utterance includes a spoken search request; sending a representation of the spoken search request to a remote server over a wireless data connection; receiving search results over the wireless data connection that are responsive to the search request; storing the results on the mobile device; receiving a subsequent search request; performing a subsequent search responsive to the subsequent search request to generate subsequent search results, the subsequent search including searching the stored search results; and presenting the subsequent results on the mobile device.

Abstract: Methods and devices for providing a user of a mobile communications device with mobile voice-mediated search capability. The methods and devices involve receiving an utterance from a user of the mobile device, the utterance including a search request; using the speech recognition functionality to recognize that the utterance includes a search request; as a result of recognizing that the utterance includes a search request, establishing a wireless data connection to a remote server; sending a representation of the search request to the remote server over the wireless data connection; receiving search results that are responsive to the search request; and presenting the search results on the mobile device.

Abstract: The present invention relates to speech recognition using selectable recognition modes. This includes innovations such as: large vocabulary speech recognition programming that supplies recognized words to external program as they are recognized, and allows a user to select between large vocabulary recognition of an utterance with and without language context from the prior utterance independently of state of the external program; allowing a user to select between continuous and discrete speech recognition that use substantially the same vocabulary; allowing a user to select between continuous and discrete large-vocabulary speech recognition modes; allowing a user to select between at least two different alphabetic entry speech recognition modes; and allowing a user to select from among four or more of the following recognitions modes when creating text: a large-vocabulary mode, an alphabetic entry mode, a number entry mode, and a punctuation entry mode.

Abstract: The present invention relates to: speech recognition using selectable recognition modes; using choice lists in large-vocabulary speech recognition; enabling users to select word transformations; speech recognition that automatically turns recognition off in one or more specified ways; phone key control of large-vocabulary speech recognition; speech recognition using phone key alphabetic filtering and spelling: speech recognition that enables a user to perform re-utterance recognition; the combination of speech recognition and text-to-speech (TTS) generation; the combination of speech recognition with handwriting and/or character recognition; and the combination of large-vocabulary speech recognition with audio recording and playback.

Abstract: A new word model is trained from synthetic word samples derived by Monte Carlo techniques from one or more prior word models. The prior word model can be a phonetic word model and the new word model can be a non-phonetic, whole-word, word model. The prior word model can be trained from data that has undergone a first channel normalization and the synthesized word samples from which the new word model is trained can undergo a different channel normalization similar to that to be used in a given speech recognition context. The prior word model can have a first model structure and the new word model can have a second, different, model structure. These differences in model structure can include, for example, differences of model topology; differences of model complexity; and differences in the type of basis function used in a description of such probability distributions.

Abstract: The present invention relates to: speech recognition using selectable recognition modes; using choice lists in large-vocabulary speech recognition; enabling users to select word transformations; speech recognition that automatically turns recognition off in one or more specified ways; phone key control of large-vocabulary speech recognition; speech recognition using phone key alphabetic filtering and spelling: speech recognition that enables a user to perform re-utterance recognition; the combination of speech recognition and text-to-speech (TTS) generation; the combination of speech recognition with handwriting and/or character recognition; and the combination of large-vocabulary speech recognition with audio recording and playback.

Abstract: A method of processing speech in a noisy environment includes determining, upon a wake-up command, when the environment is too noisy to yield reliable recognition of a user's spoken words, and alerting the user that the environment is too noisy. Determining when the environment is too noisy includes calculating a ratio of signal to noise. The signal corresponds to of an amount of energy in the spoken utterance, and the noise corresponds to an amount of energy in the background noise. The method further includes comparing the signal to noise to a threshold.

Abstract: A method for speech recognition. The method uses a single pronunciation estimator to train acoustic phoneme models and recognize utterances from multiple languages. The method includes accepting text spellings of training words in a plurality of sets of training words, each set corresponding to a different one of a plurality of languages. The method also includes, for each of the sets of training words in the plurality, receiving pronunciations for the training words in the set, the pronunciations being characteristic of native speakers of the language of the set, the pronunciations also being in terms of subword units at least some of which are common to two or more of the languages. The method also includes training a single pronunciation estimator using data comprising the text spellings and the pronunciations of the training words.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for synthesizing audible phrases (words) that includes capturing a spoken utterance, which may be a word, and extracting prosodic information (parameters) there from, then applying the prosodic parameters to a synthesized (nominal) word to produce a prosodic mimic word corresponding to the spoken utterance and the nominal word.

Abstract: A mobile voice communication device including a wireless transceiver circuit for transmitting and receiving voice communications and for receiving data; a digital processor; and a memory storing application program code which when executed on the digital processor causes the mobile voice communication device to provide predetermined functionality to the user of the mobile voice communication device. The predetermined functionality includes basic features and it includes enhanced features that are in addition to the basic features. The application program code has a deactivated state in which the mobile voice communication device provides the basic features to the user without providing the enhanced features and an activated state in which the mobile voice communication device provides the enhanced features.

Abstract: The present invention relates to: speech recognition using selectable recognition modes; using choice lists in large-vocabulary speech recognition; enabling users to select word transformations; speech recognition that automatically turns recognition off in one or more specified ways; phone key control of large-vocabulary speech recognition; speech recognition using phone key alphabetic filtering and spelling: speech recognition that enables a user to perform re-utterance recognition; the combination of speech recognition and text-to-speech (TTS) generation; the combination of speech recognition with handwriting and/or character recognition; and the combination of large-vocabulary speech recognition with audio recording and playback.

Abstract: A feedback process for providing feedback for unrecognized speech includes a speech input process for receiving a speech command as spoken by a user. An unrecognized speech comparison process, responsive to the speech input process, compares the user's speech command to a plurality of recognized speech commands available in a speech library to determine if the user's speech command is unrecognized speech, as opposed to non-speech.