Patents by Inventor Larry Paul Heck

Larry Paul Heck 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).

  • Augmented Conversational Understanding Agent
    Publication number: 20120253788
    Abstract: An augmented conversational understanding agent may be provided. Upon receiving, by an agent, at least one natural language phrase from a user, a context associated with the at least one natural language phrase may be identified. The natural language phrase may be associated, for example, with a conversation between the user and a second user. An agent action associated with the identified context may be performed according to the at least one natural language phrase and a result associated with performing the action may be displayed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2011
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: LARRY PAUL HECK, MADHUSUDAN CHINTHAKUNTA, DAVID MITBY, LISA STIFELMAN
  • Personalization of Queries, Conversations, and Searches
    Publication number: 20120253790
    Abstract: Personalization of user interactions may be provided. Upon receiving a phrase from a user, a plurality of semantic concepts associated with the user may be loaded. If the phrase is determined to comprise at least one of the plurality of semantic concepts associated with the user, a first action may be performed according to the phrase. If the phrase is determined not to comprise at least one of the plurality of semantic concepts associated with the user, a second action may be performed according to the phrase.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2011
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Larry Paul Heck, Madhusudan Chinthakunta, David Mitby, Lisa Stifelman
  • Task Driven User Intents
    Publication number: 20120253791
    Abstract: Identification of user intents may be provided. A plurality of network applications may be identified, and an ontology associated with each of the plurality of applications may be defined. If a phrase received from a user is associated with at least one of the defined ontologies, an action associated with the network application may be executed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2011
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Larry Paul Heck, Madhusudan Chinthakunta, David Mitby, Lisa Stifelman
  • Augmented Conversational Understanding Architecture
    Publication number: 20120254227
    Abstract: An augmented conversational understanding architecture may be provided. Upon receiving a natural language phrase from a user, the phrase may be translated into a search phrase and a search action may be performed on the search phrase.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2011
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Larry Paul Heck, Madhusudan Chinthakunta, David Mitby, Lisa Stifelman
  • Conversational Dialog Learning and Correction
    Publication number: 20120253789
    Abstract: Conversational dialog learning and correction may be provided. Upon receiving a natural language phrase from a first user, at least one second user associated with the natural language phrase may be identified. A context state may be created according to the first user and the at least one second user. The natural language phrase may then be translated into an agent action according to the context state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2011
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Larry Paul Heck, Madhusudan Chinthakunta, David Mitby, Lisa Stifelman
  • Location-Based Conversational Understanding
    Publication number: 20120253802
    Abstract: Location-based conversational understanding may be provided. Upon receiving a query from a user, an environmental context associated with the query may be generated. The query may be interpreted according to the environmental context. The interpreted query may be executed and at least one result associated with the query may be provided to the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2011
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Larry Paul Heck, Madhusudan Chinthakunta, David Mitby, Lisa Stifelman
  • Combined Activation for Natural User Interface Systems
    Publication number: 20120254810
    Abstract: A user interaction activation may be provided. A plurality of signals received from a user may be evaluated to determine whether the plurality of signals are associated with a visual display. If so, the plurality of signals may be translated into an agent action and a context associated with the visual display may be retrieved. The agent action may be performed according to the retrieved context and a result associated with the performed agent action may be displayed to the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2011
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Larry Paul Heck, Madhusudan Chinthakunta, David Mitby, Lisa Stifelman
  • Method and system for improving robustness in a speech system
    Patent number: 7203652
    Abstract: The present invention introduces a system and method for improved robustness in a speech system. In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving an utterance from an intended talker at a speech recognition system; computing a speaker verification score with a voice characteristic model associated and with the utterance; computing a speech recognition score associated with the utterance; and selecting a best hypothesis associated with the utterance and based on both the speaker verification score and the speech recognition score.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2007
    Assignee: Nuance Communications
    Inventor: Larry Paul Heck
  • Method and system for on-line unsupervised adaptation in speaker verification
    Patent number: 6804647
    Abstract: The present invention introduces a system and method for unsupervised, on-line, adaptation in speaker verification. In one embodiment, a method for adapting a speaker model to improve the verification of a speaker's voice, comprises detecting a channel of a verification utterance; learning vocal characteristics of the speaker on the detected channel; and transforming the learned vocal characteristics of the speaker from the detected channel to the speaker model of a second channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2004
    Assignee: Nuance Communications
    Inventors: Larry Paul Heck, N. Nikki Mirghafori