Abstract: The invention concerns a management process of voice production activity of a person-machine interaction system with voice component, consisting especially of detecting and capturing external acoustic activity originating from an agent external to the system, and analyzing the semantic contents of any statement optionally included in the external acoustic activity. The inventive process includes measuring of an overlap period of the external acoustic activity and of the voice production of the system, a process for inhibiting any interruption of the voice production of the system for as long as the duration of the overlap period remains less than a limited predetermined duration, and an interruption process of the voice production of the system in the case where, simultaneously, the external acoustic activity is assimilable to voice activity and where the duration of the overlap period attains or exceeds the limited duration.

Abstract: A voice application system includes elements for acquiring at least one phrase spoken by at least one user connected to semantic analysis element including members for recognizing keywords belonging to the phrase stated and capable of generating an ordered list of keywords, called a listing, for the phrase spoken, the recognition members being connected to elements providing an association in the form of rules between at least one predetermined keyword and a specific action and elements for selecting at least one particular action when a set of keywords included in the corresponding rule are present in the phrase stated. The selection elements run through the set of rules for the purposes of identification and for each given rule search for the presence of a set of keywords for that rule in the phrase stated in order to select the corresponding specific action relating to the rule so determined and identified.

Abstract: Glass microbeads bearing a coating which includes at least one binding agent fixed to the glass microbeads, and which binding agent is adapted releasably to bind to a material contained within a fluid medium by a biological affinity reaction, whereby the material can be removed from the fluid medium with the glass microbeads and then stripped from the glass microbeads while leaving the at least one binding agent attached to the glass microbeads. Inventive microbeads may bear a monomolecular layer of a silane as a fixing agent for a binding agent which is selected for its biological affinity for the material to be separated.