Patents by Inventor Kathleen A. Howard

Kathleen A. Howard 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: 7496514
    Abstract: A dialog management system functions to manage the dialog between a user of a computer system and one or more speech enabled software applications. The user provides spoken input to a microphone connected to the computer system, and hears responses from one or more applications through a speaker connected to the computer system. The dialog management system includes a dialog manager, a turn manager, a speak queue, dialog contexts, and dialog state. The dialog manager provides top-level control of the dialog and stores responses based on the user's spoken input in a speak queue for later output to the user. The turn manager controls delivery of the responses to the user based on the dialog context and the dialog state, to provide a polite asynchronous dialog with the user that enables the user to be in control of the dialog. The dialog context provides information about each dialog. The dialog state provides information about whose turn it is (computer or user) to speak.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Steven I. Ross, Jeffrey G. MacAllister, Christopher A. Hyland, Marijane M. Zeller, Kathleen A. Howard
  • Publication number: 20080015864
    Abstract: A dialog management system functions to manage the dialog between a user of a computer system and one or more speech enabled software applications. The user provides spoken input to a microphone connected to the computer system, and hears responses from one or more applications through a speaker connected to the computer system. The dialog management system includes a dialog manager, a turn manager, a speak queue, dialog contexts, and dialog state. The dialog manager provides top-level control of the dialog and stores responses based on the user's spoken input in a speak queue for later output to the user. The turn manager controls delivery of the responses to the user based on the dialog context and the dialog state, to provide a polite asynchronous dialog with the user that enables the user to be in control of the dialog. The dialog context provides information about each dialog. The dialog state provides information about whose turn it is (computer or user) to speak.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 16, 2007
    Publication date: January 17, 2008
    Inventors: Steven Ross, Jeffrey MacAllister, Christopher Hyland, Marijane Zeller, Kathleen Howard
  • Patent number: 7257537
    Abstract: A dialog management system functions to manage the dialog between a user of a computer system and one or more speech enabled software applications. The user provides spoken input to a microphone connected to the computer system, and hears responses from one or more applications through a speaker connected to the computer system. The dialog management system includes a dialog manager, a turn manager, a speak queue, dialog contexts, and dialog state. The dialog manager provides top-level control of the dialog and stores responses based on the user's spoken input in a speak queue for later output to the user. The turn manager controls delivery of the responses to the user based on the dialog context and the dialog state, to provide a polite dialog with the user that enables the user to be in control of the dialog. The dialog context provides information about each dialog. The dialog state provides information about whose turn it is (computer or user) to speak.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Steven I. Ross, Jeffrey G. MacAllister, Christopher A. Hyland, Marijane M. Zeller, Kathleen A. Howard
  • Publication number: 20020133355
    Abstract: A dialog management system functions to manage the dialog between a user of a computer system and one or more speech enabled software applications. The user provides spoken input to a microphone connected to the computer system, and hears responses from one or more applications through a speaker connected to the computer system. The dialog management system includes a dialog manager, a turn manager, a speak queue, dialog contexts, and dialog state. The dialog manager provides top-level control of the dialog and stores responses based on the user's spoken input in a speak queue for later output to the user. The turn manager controls delivery of the responses to the user based on the dialog context and the dialog state, to provide a polite dialog with the user that enables the user to be in control of the dialog. The dialog context provides information about each dialog. The dialog state provides information about whose turn it is (computer or user) to speak.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 10, 2002
    Publication date: September 19, 2002
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Steven I. Ross, Jeffrey G. MacAllister, Christopher A. Hyland, Marijane M. Zeller, Kathleen A. Howard