Abstract: A modular architecture is described for providing an intelligent media processing and language architecture working in conjunction with a speech application. The modular architecture comprises four modules: a user profile module, an active audio markup language (AAML) module, a real-time monitoring and sensing module, and a process and control module. The user profile module enables creation of personal profiles and is capable of learning user preferences. The AAML module provides a rich media representation wherein an AAML codec is provided as a part of the module. The processing and control module is responsible for processing the information received from each of the other modules, interpreting the received information, and intelligently routing it to the application layer.

Abstract: A combination of a series of filters and a specification language is used to rapidly enable voice access to an external data repository. The filters include a data-to-voice filter operating on data values that flow from the data repository to a communication system, a voice-to-data filter capturing voice inputs and storing data related to such inputs in the data repository, an utterance filter normalizing spoken data inputs in a particular format, a validation filter checking values returned by the speech recognizer, and a data description filter creating spoken formats of data labels or descriptions. Also included is a pair of dictionaries: name pronunciation dictionary for ensuring correct pronunciation of words and a name grammar dictionary providing variations associated with a name.