Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for performing trend analysis of speech. A system practicing the method receives a speech trend analysis request having candidate feature constraints, an objective function with respect to a speech trend to be analyzed, and a set of speech record constraints. The system selects a subset of speech records from the group of speech records based on the set of speech record constraints to yield selected speech records, identifies features in the selected speech records based on the set of candidate feature constraints to yield identified features, and assigns a weight to each of the identified features based on the objective function. Then the system ranks the identified features by their respective weights to yield ranked identified features, and outputs at least one of the ranked identified features associated with a speech-based trend in response to the speech trend analysis request.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus for responding to an inquiry from a client via a network. The method and apparatus receive the inquiry from a client via a network. Based on the inquiry, question-answer pairs retrieved from the network are analyzed to determine a response to the inquiry. The QA pairs are not predefined. As a result, the QA pairs have to be analyzed in order to determine whether they are responsive to a particular inquiry. Questions of the QA pairs may be repetitive and, without more, will not be useful in determining whether their corresponding answer responds to an inquiry.

Abstract: A clausifier and method of extracting clauses for spoken language understanding are disclosed. The method relates to generating a set of clauses from speech utterance text and comprises inserting at least one boundary tag in speech utterance text related to sentence boundaries, inserting at least one edit tag indicating a portion of the speech utterance text to remove, and inserting at least one conjunction tag within the speech utterance text. The result is a set of clauses that may be identified within the speech utterance text according to the inserted at least one boundary tag, at least one edit tag and at least one conjunction tag. The disclosed clausifier comprises a sentence boundary classifier, an edit detector classifier, and a conjunction detector classifier. The clausifier may comprise a single classifier or a plurality of classifiers to perform the steps of identifying sentence boundaries, editing text, and identifying conjunctions within the text.

Abstract: There is provided for a system, method, and computer readable medium storing instructions related to controlling a presentation in a multimodal system. A method for the retrieval of information on the basis of its content for real-time incorporation into an electronic presentation is discussed. One method includes controlling a media presentation using a multimodal interface. The method involves receiving from a presenter a content-based request associated with a plurality of segments within a media presentation preprocessed for context-based searching; displaying the media presentation and displaying to the presenter results in response to the content-based request; receiving a selection from the presenter of at least one result; and displaying the selected result to an audience.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for performing trend analysis of speech. A system practicing the method receives a speech trend analysis request having candidate feature constraints, an objective function with respect to a speech trend to be analyzed, and a set of speech record constraints. The system selects a subset of speech records from the group of speech records based on the set of speech record constraints to yield selected speech records, identifies features in the selected speech records based on the set of candidate feature constraints to yield identified features, and assigns a weight to each of the identified features based on the objective function. Then the system ranks the identified features by their respective weights to yield ranked identified features, and outputs at least one of the ranked identified features associated with a speech-based trend in response to the speech trend analysis request.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus for responding to an inquiry from a client via a network. The method and apparatus receive the inquiry from a client via a network. Based on the inquiry, question-answer pairs retrieved from the network are analyzed to determine a response to the inquiry. The QA pairs are not predefined. As a result, the QA pairs have to be analyzed in order to determine whether they are responsive to a particular inquiry. Questions of the QA pairs may be repetitive and, without more, will not be useful in determining whether their corresponding answer responds to an inquiry.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for assigning saliency weights to words of an ASR model. The saliency values assigned to words within an ASR model are based on human perception judgments of previous transcripts. These saliency values are applied as weights to modify an ASR model such that the results of the weighted ASR model in converting a spoken document to a transcript provide a more accurate and useful transcription to the user.

Abstract: Disclosed is a web server that includes a headlines module for automatically generating headlines based on data retrieved from a network (e.g., World Wide Web). The web server also includes an interactive agent for generating responses to inquiries relating to the headlines based on the data.

Abstract: There is provided for a system, method, and computer readable medium storing instructions related to controlling a presentation in a multimodal system. A method for the retrieval of information on the basis of its content for real-time incorporation into an electronic presentation is discussed. One method includes controlling a media presentation using a multimodal interface. The method involves receiving from a presenter a content-based request associated with a plurality of segments within a media presentation preprocessed for context-based searching; displaying the media presentation and displaying to the presenter results in response to the content-based request; receiving a selection from the presenter of at least one result; and displaying the selected result to an audience.

Abstract: The invention provides for a system, method, and computer readable medium storing instructions related to controlling a presentation in a multimodal system. The method embodiment of the invention is a method for the retrieval of information on the basis of its content for incorporation into an electronic presentation. The method comprises receiving from a user a content-based request for at least one segment from a first plurality of segments within a media presentation preprocessed to enable natural language content searchability; in response to the request, presenting a subset of the first plurality of segments to the user; receiving a selection indication from the user associated with at least one segment of the subset of the first plurality of segments and adding the selected at least one segment to a deck for use in a presentation.

Abstract: A computerized method is disclosed for presenting advertising data extracted from a video data stream, the method including storing a plurality of advertising data items extracted from the video data stream at an end user device; and displaying a plurality of sorted advertising indicator data items at the end user device, wherein each of the advertising indicator data items indicates one of the plurality of stored advertising data items. A system is disclosed for performing the method. A data structure is disclosed providing a functional and structural interrelationship between a processor in the system and data in the data structure.

Abstract: A system, method and computer readable medium that provides an automated web transcription service is disclosed. The method may include receiving input speech from a user using a communications network, recognizing the received input speech, understanding the recognized speech, transcribing the understood speech to text, storing the transcribed text in a database, receiving a request via a web page to display the transcribed text, retrieving transcribed text from the database, and displaying the transcribed text to the requester using the web page.

Abstract: The invention provides for a system, method, and computer readable medium storing instructions related to controlling a presentation in a multimodal system. The method embodiment of the invention is a method for the retrieval of information on the basis of its content for real-time incorporation into an electronic presentation. The method comprises receiving from a presenter a content-based request for at least one segment of a first plurality of segments within a media presentation and while displaying the media presentation to an audience, displaying to the presenter a second plurality of segments in response to the content-based request. The computing device practicing the method receives a selection from the presenter of a segment from the second plurality of segments and displays to the audience the selected segment.

Abstract: The invention provides for a system, method, and computer readable medium storing instructions related to controlling a presentation in a multimodal system. The method embodiment of the invention is a method for the retrieval of information on the basis of its content for incorporation into an electronic presentation. The method comprises receiving from a user a content-based request for at least one segment from a first plurality of segments within a media presentation preprocessed to enable natural language content searchability; in response to the request, presenting a subset of the first plurality of segments to the user; receiving a selection indication from the user associated with at least one segment of the subset of the first plurality of segments and adding the selected at least one segment to a deck for use in a presentation.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to systems, methods, and computer-readable media for generating a lexicon for use with speech recognition. The method includes overgenerating potential pronunciations based on symbolic input, identifying potential pronunciations in a speech recognition context, and storing the identified potential pronunciations in a lexicon. Overgenerating potential pronunciations can include establishing a set of conversion rules for short sequences of letters, converting portions of the symbolic input into a number of possible lexical pronunciation variants based on the set of conversion rules, modeling the possible lexical pronunciation variants in one of a weighted network and a list of phoneme lists, and iteratively retraining the set of conversion rules based on improved pronunciations. Symbolic input can include multiple examples of a same spoken word. Speech data can be labeled explicitly or implicitly and can include words as text and recorded audio.

Abstract: The invention provides for a system, method, and computer readable medium storing instructions related to controlling a presentation in a multimodal system. The method embodiment of the invention is a method for the retrieval of information on the basis of its content for real-time incorporation into an electronic presentation. The method comprises receiving from a presenter a content-based request for at least one segment of a first plurality of segments within a media presentation and while displaying the media presentation to an audience, displaying to the presenter a second plurality of segments in response to the content-based request. The computing device practicing the method receives a selection from the presenter of a segment from the second plurality of segments and displays to the audience the selected segment.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a communication from a party at a voice response system and capturing speech spoken by the party during the communication. Then a processor creates a voice model of the party, the voice model being created by processing the speech, without notifying the party. The voice model is then stored to provide voice verification during a subsequent communication.

Abstract: A system and method are provided for augmenting information on business directory databases and communicating with businesses is disclosed. Using the enriched business directory database and Web mining technology, customized email message are sent inviting businesses to enter their enriched business information into the directory or even subscribe to other paid services provided by the directory service.

Abstract: Disclosed are systems, methods, and computer-readable media for comparing customer voice prints comprising of uncommonly spoken words with a database of known fraudulent voice signatures and continually updating the database to decrease the risk of identity theft. The method embodiment comprises comparing a received voice signal against a database of known fraudulent voice signatures, denying the caller's transaction if the voice signal substantially matches the database of known fraudulent voice signatures, adding the caller's voice signal to the database of known fraudulent voice signatures if the voice signal does not substantially match a separate speaker verification database and received additional information is not verified.

Abstract: A method includes receiving a communication from a party at a voice response system and capturing verbal communication spoken by the party. Then a processor creates a voice model associated with the party, the voice model being created by processing the captured verbal communication spoken by the party. The creation of the voice model is imperceptible to the party. The voice model is then stored to provide voice verification of the party during a subsequent communication.